cftV; 


rJ? 


H-4- 


LIBRARY 

of  Tin: 

Theological    Seminar 

y, 

PRINCETON,    N.  J. 

Case,                                 Division 

^/ 

Shelf,                             Section 

Book,                  Nft. 

-^-0 

nosr 


>  3  .>-.>.'    s 


*+  .+ 


p,V  .  .-*• 


PAPISM  /  ^  f 

IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

BEING, 
SELECT  CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  THE  PAPAL  CONTROVERSY, 

DURING  1835—40. 


BY    ROBERT    J.   BRECKINRIDGE. 


We  do  not  look  upon  the  Popish  sect  as  a  religion,  but  rather  as  a  hierarchical 
tyrann}',  under  a  cloak  of  religion,  clothed  with  the  spoils  of  the  civil  power,  which 
it  has  usurped  to  itself,  contrary  to  our  Saviour's  own  doctrine. .John  Milton's 
D  t  pro.  Pop.  A?ig.  Prozf 


—  ,„,g^gn.m. — 


BALTIMORE: 
DAVID  OWEN  &*SON\  2j,  N,  GAY  STREET. 

MDCCCXLI. 

MATCHETT.  PRINTER. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1841,  by  the  Au- 
thor, in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Maryland. 


TO  THE 

Second  Presbyterian  Church  and  Congregation 

OF   BALTIMORE, 

THIS  VOLUME 
IS  MOST  AFFECTIONATELY  AND  MOST  GRATEFULLY 

DEDICATED, 

AS  A  TOKEN  OF  PROFOUND  ADMIRATION 
i 

FOR 
WHICH 

They  have  so  freqently,  so  signally,  and  so  affectingly 

MANIFESTED, 

IN  THEIR  PERSONAL  AND  PUBLIC  ACT5J 

DURING 

THE    WHOLE    SPIRITUAL    OVERSIGHT 
of  their 
faithful  friend, 

and  unworthy  pastor, 
Baltimore,  Feb,  12,  1841,  THJ3  AUTHOR. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

The  author  of  the  following  pages,  in  submitting  them 
in  this  form  to  the  public,  deems  it  not  improper  to  ex- 
plain himself  briefly  to  his  readers. 

There  are  several  objects  which  he  supposes  may  be 
gained,  or  at  least  promoted  by  the  publication  of  this 
volume.  One  is,  that  in  this  way,  the  history  of  the  rise 
and  early  progress  of  the  papal  controversy  in  the  region 
where  his  lot  is  cast,  and  in  some  degree  throughout 
America,  will  be  preserved  in  a  permanent  and  con- 
venient form;  a  history  personally  important  as  it  regards 
many  individuals,  and  not  without  its  use  in  illustrating  the 
principles,  the  spirit  and  the  aims  of  papism  in  this 
country. — Another  is,  that  persons  really  desirous  of 
making  themselves  acquainted  with  papism  in  general, 
and  its  character  in  this  age  and  country  in  particular; 
may  have  not  only  the  means  of  doing  this  somewhat 
increased,  but  may  also  see,  in  our  personal  experience, 
the  manner  in  which  and  the  means  by  which  God  has 
been  pleased  to  lead  an  individual  similarly  situated  with 
themselves,  in  the  same  course,  before  them.  A  third, 
and  the  prevailing  reason,  has  been  the  hope  of  spread- 
ing information  on  one  of  the  most  important  and  here- 
tofore neglected  topics  of  the  age;  and  of  stimulating 
public  curiosity  and  interest,  on  a  subject  in  regard  to 
„.i.;^u    .^^  ooo^r,  to  Inro  haon  Hpqd  nr-f\rlv  in  proportion 


TI 

as  the  obligations  laid  on  them  to  be  all  alive,  were  tran- 
scendent. 

The  contributions  to  the  papal  controversy  published 
in  this  volume,  cover  a  period  of  six  years  of  the  life  and 
ministry  of  their  author.  They  have  been  years  of  great 
care  and  toil,  not  only  in  his  more  important  and  direct 
work  as  Bishop  of  a  large  church  and  congregation  com- 
mitted to  his  particular  oversight,  by  the  great  Bishop  of 
souls;  but  also,  as  he  has  been  connected  with  many  of 
the  great  movements  of  the  age,  and  very  especially  with 
the  difficulties  and  deliverance  of  that  branch  of  the 
church  of  God  in  which  he  is  a  minister.  He  does  not 
therefore  offer  this  volume  to  the  public,  as  any  thing 
more,  than  what  a  person  so  situated  may  be  supposed 
to  accomplish  in  hours  stolen  from  nature,  from  sickness, 
and  from  the  ordinary  enjoyments  of  life. 

The  scholar  may  repose  unqualified  credit,  in  all  the 
references  and  authorities  of  this  volume.  All  of  them, 
where  they  are  given  as  original,  have  been  diligently 
and  laboriously  verified;  and  where  that  was  not  possible 
or  was  not  considered  necessary,  the  authority  relied  on 
is  stated.  Indeed,  we  have  found  so  little  to  our  taste  in 
the  elemental  volumes,  on  the  papal  controversy;  and  so 
many  inaccuracies  of  reference  perpetuated  through  suc- 
cessive authors  quoting  from  each  other,  and  all  pretend- 
ing to  be  original;  that  we  have  prefered  to  push  our 
studies,  in  an  independent  manner,  up  to  the  original 
sources,  wherever  it  was  possible. 

The  reader  may  also  rely  with  implicit  confidence  on 
the  facts  and  statements  of  this  book.  They  have  all 
been  made  public  in  the  face  of  assassins  seeking  our  life, 
of  informers  watching  our  actions  and  words,  and  of  im- 


Vll 

placable  and  unmerciful  enemies  conspiring  our  ruin. 
The  book  is  true,  to  the  letter. 

For  any  thing  more,  the  author  is  deeply  sensible  that 
if  it  should  be  made  an  instrument  of  good — it  will  be 
because  God  shall  own  it.  After  what  he  has  seen  and 
experienced,  after  those  things  of  which  he  has  been  made 
the  instrument ;  he  is  the  last  that  should  be  found  dis- 
trusting God.  Let  the  adorable  God  do  therefore,  what 
seemethto  him  good;  it  shall  by  his  grace,  be  good  also 
for  his  servant. 

Baltimore,  February,  1841. 


[CONTENTS. 


NUMBER    I. 

Page. 
The  Commencement  of  the  Papal  Controversy  in  Baltimore,   in 
1835 1 


NUMBER    II. 

Carmelite  Convent  in  Baltimore;  an  Outrage  which  was  probably 
Committed  therein, 7 


NUMBER   III. 

Questions  to  Determine  the  True  Church 17 

NUMBER  IV. 

Romanism — Political  and  Religious, 19 

NUMBER   V. 

The  Antiquity  of  the  Protestant  Faith, 31 

NUMBER   VI. 

Worship  in  an  Unknown  Tongue;  Gregory  vii.  and  the  Bohemian 
Churches, 39 

NUMBER   VII. 

The  General  Councils. — Which  are  they?  What  have  they  done?. ...    44 

NUMBER   VIII. 

A  Visit  to  the  Baltimore  Cathedral, , >     56 


X  CONTENTS. 

NUMBER    IX. 

Page. 
The  last  of  the  House  of  Valois, 66 

NUMBER   X. 

Judge  Gaston  of  N.  C. — Religious  Liberty — Mental  Reservation,. ...     80 


NUMBER    XI. 

An  Address  to  the  American  People.     Hon.  Mr.  Gaston  of  N.  C. 
Catholic  Perfidy — Prostitution  of  the  Public  Press, 90 


NUMBER    XII. 

Texian  Revolution,  before  San  Jacinto, 102 

NUMBER    XIII. 

Jerome  of  Prague ;  and  the  Council  of  Constance, 108 

NUMBER    XIV. 

Papal  Propagandism  in  the  United  States, 116 

NUMBER   XV. 

Papal  Provincial  Council;  Preaching  of  Bishop  England, 126 

NUMBER   XVI. 

Case  of  Eliza  Burns  the  Abducted  Orphan, 137 

NUMBER   XVII. 

Bishops  Full,  versus  Bishops  Empty, 159 

NUMBER   XVIII. 

First  Kentucky  Cousecration,  of  "My  Lord  Purcell," 175 


CONTENTS.  XI 

N  U  M  B  K  11    X  I  X  . 

Page. 

Lent — its  Curious  History  and  Present  State, 181 

NUMBER    XX. 
"The  Big  Beggar-Man." 180 

NUMBER   XXI. 

Vocation  and  Preaching  of  Archbishop  Eccleston, 198 

NUMBER    XXII. 

Conjunction  of  St.  Bacchus  and  St.  Ignatius, 202 

NUMBER   XXIII. 

Papal  Unity — its  Nature,  Certainty,  and  Advantage, 207 

NUMBER    XXIV. 

Creed  of  the  Church  of  Rome;  her  Dilemma  and  Imposture, 214 

NUMBER    XXV. 

Eliza  Ann  O'Neal,  and  her  Rescued  Child, 232 

NUMBER    XXVI. 

Escape  of  a  Nun  from  the  Carmelite  Prison  in  Aisquith  street, 235 

NUMBER   XXVII. 

The  Case  of  Olevia  Neal  the  Carmelite  Nun,  called  Sister  Isabella,..  239 

NUMBER    XXVIII. 

Review  of  the   Correspondence  between  the  Archbishop  and   the 
Mayor  of  Baltimore, 25S 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

NUMBER    XXIX. 

Page 
The  Tax  Book  of  the  Roman  Chancery, 281 

NUMBER    XXX. 

Secreta  Monita  Societatis  Jesu, 297 

NUMBER   XXXI. 

Papism  before  the  Courts  of  Law:  our  Legal  Persecution, 316 

NUMBER   XXXII. 

Letter  of  Robert  J.  Breckinridge  to  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Baltimore,  on  the  Occasion  of  his  Presentment  by  the  Grand 
Jury:  with  the  Action  of  the  Session,  and  that  of  the  Church 
thereon, 322 

NUMBER  XXXIII. 

The  State  of  Maryland  against  Robert  J.  Breckinridge, 331 


PAPISM  IN  THE   XIX.   CENTURY, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


-^©^~ 


NUMBER  I. 


THE  COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    PAPAL    CONTROVERSY   IN 
BALTIMORE,    IN  1835, 


The  address  to  the  public  which  follows,  under  the 
signature  of  one  of  the  conductors  of  this  Magazine,* 
should  more  appropriately  have  appeared  in  one  of  our 
daily  papers.  It  has  been  presented  for  publication  to 
two,  and  refused  by  both.  Heart-sick  at  the  mournful 
condition  of  our  city  press,  and  destitute  of  as  good 
reasons  to  address  to  others,  as  were  disregarded  by  those 
applied  to,  its  author  fulfils  the  only  duty  left  him,  and 
asks  from  the  few  that  may  see  these  pages,  a  perusal  of  it. 

Mr.  William  Gwynn  Jones,  the  putative  editor  of  the 
Gazette,  is  said  to  be  a  gentleman  and  a  protestant. 
Indeed,  it  is  not  long  since  we  saw  him  presiding,  in  Dr. 
Henshaw's  church,  as  president  of  a  Bible  Society.  Save 
the  mark  !     We  have  reason  to  know,  that  when,  in  his 


*  The  Baltimore  Literary  and  Religious  Magazine, 
1 


)l  THE   COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  PAPAL 

own  opinion  lie  fell  called  on  to  make  voluntary  boast- 
ings of  the  freedom  of  his  columns  from  all  improper  in- 
fluence, and  thought  himself  at  liberty  to  use  Mr.  Breck- 
inridge's name  as  a  caption,  and  to  make  a  free  version 
of  his  statements,  the  pretext  of  his  discourse;  he  pro- 
cured a  mutual  friend,  to  give  previous  intimations  of  hi? 
intended  course  with  assurances  that  it  wag  kindly  ia- 
tended.  The  absence  of  Mr.  B.  from  this  city  during 
the  greater  part  of  December  and  January  1835,  left  him 
silent  and  ignorant  of  what  was  doing;  while  from  time  to 
time  Mr.  Jones,  in  his  editorial  columns,  besides  the  va- 
rious help  of  his  correspondents,  kept  amusing  the  priests 
with  a  war  upon  a  poor  absent  Presbyterian  parson  ! 
Courageous  souls!  The  attack,  as  well  as  we  can  now  re- 
member, seems  to  have  been  renewed  about  eight  times. 

In  the  end,  Mr.  B.  returned  to  Baltimore,  and  inclosed 
under  cover  of  a  very  civil  note  to  the  editor  of  the  Ga- 
zette, the  public  address  which  follows  ;  and  sent  both 
by  the  hands  of  one  of  the  worthiest  gentlemen  in  town, 
with  the  express  request  to  publish  or  return  the  paper. — 
At  the  end  of  three  days,  the  same  friend  brought  for  an- 
swer from  Mr.  J.,  that  he  must  have  a  personal  interview 
with  the  author  before  he  could  publish  the  article.  In 
this  contingency  Mr.  B.  wrote  another  note,  saying  amongst 
other  things,  that  his  health  did  not  permit  him  to  visit 
Mr.  J.,  and  while  he  would  be  happy  to  see  him  at  any 
time,  it  was  quite  useless  to  hold  discussions  about  so 
plain  a  case,  and  one  in  regard  to  which  a  common  act 
of  justice,  and  not  advice  wras  asked  from  him.  Before 
replying  to  this  note,  the  mutual  friend  who  had  first 
written  of  Mr.  J's  intended  course,  called  on  his  behalf 
and  no  doubt  at  his  suggestion,  upon  Mr.  B.,  and  had  a 
free  conversation  on  the  subject.  Some  hours  after  his 
departure,  the  article  was  received  in  a  blank  indosure 
from  the  hands  of  the  friend  who  delivered  it. 

The  article  was  then  sent  by  another  friend  to  the  pub- 
lishers of  the  American,  who  returned  it  with  a  civil  note, 
declining  to  publish ;  although,  in  addition  to  the  op- 
pression under  wThich  the  author  was  seen  to  labour,  he 
was  a  subscriber  to  that  paper. 

As  to  the  probable  influences  which  produced  these 


CONTROVERSY  IN  BALTIMORE,  IN  1835.  3 

results  we  have  no  question,  nor  has  the  public  here, 
who  think  at  all.     Let  us  state  a  lew  facts. 

1.  The  article  now  published,  while  it  was  in  Mr.  J's 
office,  (the  Gazette,)  was  seen  and  read,  among  others, 
by  a  young  gentleman,  whose  father  is  the  host  of  Bishop 
England  when  he  honors  this  good  city  with  his  presence. 

2.  The  feelings  of  this  gentleman,  (the  father,)  on  the 
general  controversy,  may  be  gathered  from  two  facts  :  1. 
He  applied  to  a  member  of  Mr.  Breckinridge's  congre- 
gation not  long  ago,  for  a  list  of  the  trustees  and  elders 
of  the  church.  (What  he  wanted  with  them  is  yet  to 
appear!)  2.  He  rose  and  left  the  house,  still  more  re- 
cently, when  Mr.  McCalla  in  a  lecture  mentioned  Bishop 
England's  name,  in  connection  with  the  inquisition. 

3.  It  was  at  first  the  intention  of  Mr.  J.  to  publish  this 
rejected  article  in  the  Gazette ;  it  was  the  opinion  of  his 
intelligent  foreman,  wTho  is  by  repute  a  frequent  contri- 
butor to  the  columns  of  the  very  respectable  journal  he  is 
connected  with,  that  "  the  article  would  do  ;"  it  was  the 
avowed  opinion  of  the  former  editor  of  that  paper,  that 
Mr.  B.  should  be  allowed  to  explain  and  defend  himself; 
Mr.  J.  stated  that  he  objected  to  "  only  two  words;"  and 
unluckily,  these  two  words,  (which  he  has  kept  secret 
still,) — were  revealed  after  the  young  gentleman  spoken 
of  above ,  had  read  the  manuscript ! 

But  it  is  vain  to  argue  such  a  matter.  Any  man  of  a 
candid  spirit,  who  read  the  repeated  attacks  in  the  Ga- 
zette, and  saw  the  useless  boastings  about  its  freedom 
from  popish  influence,  would  exclaim  at  once — surely, 
surely,  fair-dealing  demands  that  the  man  should  be  al- 
lowed to  explain  his  conduct,  when  he  offers  to  do  it  over 
his  own  signature,  and  does  it  in  terms  respectful  to  all 
men,  and  does  it  in  a  single  article !  Yet  such  is  neither 
the  logic,  the  morality,  nor  the  independence,  of  a  part 
at  least,  of  the  public  press  in  Baltimore  ! 

In  illustration  of  this  subject,  and  that  the  matters  may 
not  pass  into  oblivion,  we  record  here  two  facts. 

1.  An  individual  now  living  in  this  city,  whose  name 
is  at  the  service  of  any  one  who  considers  himself  as  im- 
plicated, tells  us  he  is  ready  to  make  oath,  that  within  a 
few  years,  every  daily  paper  in  this  city,  (except  the  Pa- 


4  THE    COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE   PAPAL 

triot,  which  was  not  applied  to)  including  both  the  Amer- 
ican and  (iazette,  refused  to  publish,  even  for  compensa- 
tion as  an  advertisement,  the  prospectus  of  a  Protestant 
newspaper,  published  in  New  York. 

2.  Within  a  few  months,  (almost  weeks,)  three  of  the 
papers  in  this  city,  in  re-publishing  the  evidence  taken 
on  the  trial  of  the  persons  arrested  for  burning  the  Con- 
vent near  Boston,  garbled  it,  so  as  to  omit  the  acknow- 
ledgment on  oath  of  the  lady  superior,  that  she  had 
threatened  a  portion  of  the  people  of  Boston,  with  Bishop 
Fcnwick  and  10,000  brave  irish  :  (Poor  Watson  and 
Mercer  could  expound  the  meaning  of  such  threats,  if 
they  wrere  back  from  their  bloody  graves.)  The  Amer- 
ican was  one  of  the  papers  that  garbled  this  testimony. 
The  present  editor  of  that  leading  journal,  (who  is  a  re- 
puted Catholic,)  can  explain  how  this  extraordinary 
omission  occurred.  In  the  meantime  the  publishers  will 
excuse  us  for  seeing  in  such  acts,  a  better  solution  than 
their  own  reasons  afford,  of  the  rejection  of  Mr.  B's 
statement.  And  though  the  Gazette  published  it  truly, 
it  admitted  without  comment,  an  abusive  article  virtually 
denying  that  such  testimony  wTas  ever  given  ! 

As  to  the  undue  influence  exercised  by  the  popish 
part  of  the  city,  comprising  as  they  do,  less  than  a  quar- 
ter of  the  people,  and  embracing  in  that  quarter  not  even 
the  rateable  part  of  its  wealth,  enterprise  and  intelligence; 
no  man  who  is  willing  to  see,  doubts  it.  That  this  in- 
fluence is  ruinous  to  all  who  will  not  submit  to  it,  and 
are  too  wTeak  to  resist  it,  is  so  manifest,  that  it  is  this 
very  startling  truth  which  makes  it  so  hard  to  get  men  to 
act  in  shaking  it  off.  That  the  press  in  its  turn  should 
feel  this  blighting  influence,  is  not  wronderful ;  and  that 
being  itself  first  won,  it  should  afterwards  be  used  to  win 
all  else, — by  terror  or  seduction,  is  clear  enough. 

Before  we  lay  down  our  pen,  we  will  ask  in  conclusion 
of  this  matter : 

1.  What  protection  has  any  Protestant  gentleman  in 
this  community,  in  the  present  state  of  affairs,  in  any  in- 
terest which  the  newspapers  can  reach  and  choose  to  as- 
sail— provided  he  thinks  fit  in  the  discharge  of  any  duty, 
or  if  you  please,  in  mere  caprice,  to  call  in  question  the 


CONTROVERSY  IN  BALTIMORE, IX  1  5 

stupid    dogmas, 'and    wicked   practices  of  the   Romish 
priesthood  ? 

2.  How  could  a  small  portion  of  the  redundant  weahh 
of  our  merchants  and  mechanics,  and  other  enterprising 
citizens,  be  more  usefully,  or  more  profitably  employed, 
than  in  establishing  in  this  city,  and  in  other  cities  and 
towns,  political  presses,  and  mercantile  presses,  issuing 
daily  papers,  that  should  be  decidedly  protestant?  Or  is 
it  ever  to  be,  that  the  free  and  glorious  principles  of  the 
reformation  are  to  be  without  an  advocate,  only  in  this 
free  and  glorious  land  ! 

THE     REJECTED     STATEMENT. 
TO    THE    PUBLIC. 

The  undersigned  regrets  the  necessity  which  compels 
him  to  make  the  following  statement. 

From  the  autumn  of  1832  to  the  autumn  of  1834,  the 
undersigned  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  congregation 
worshipping  in  East  Baltimore  street,  preached  in  various 
parts  of  this  city,  about  five  hundred  times.  During  this 
period,  he  never  preached  a  single  discourse  intended  to 
be,  or  considered  by  him,  controversial ;  nor  did  he  ever 
in  his  public  ministrations,  attack  any  sect  of  persons  ac- 
knowledged by  any  other  sect,  to  be  Christians;  and,  es- 
pecially did  he  make  no  movement  towards  a  controver- 
sy with  the  Roman  Catholics. 

In  the  autumn  of  1834,  the  undersigned,  impelled  by 
reasons  which  seemed  to  him  imperative,  but  which  he 
supposes  would  not  interest  the  public,  commenced  with- 
out previous  notice  of  any  kind,  and  in  his  regular  week- 
day ministrations,  a  series  of  lectures  in  a  small  room 
attached  to  his  church,  on  the  prophecies  of  the  New 
Testament,  which  he  supposed  had  reference  to  the  church 
called  by  its  members,  Roman  Catholic  and  apostolical. 
These  lectures  were  followed  by  others  in  the  same  room, 
for  the  benefit  of  his  own  charge,  on  some  of  the  author- 
ised religious  publications  issued  with  the  sanction  of 
persons  high  in  office  in  that  church,  in  this  city. 

In  the  midst  of  one  of  these  lectures,  a  Catholic  priest 
named  Gildea,  said  to  be  rector  of  one  of  their  churches 
1* 


6  THE    COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE   PAPAL    8tC. 

in  this  city,  interrupted  the  exercises  in  a  manner  wl 
nothing  hut  the  forbearance  of  my  friends,  prevented  from 
receiving  its  merited  reward.     The  excitement  produced 

by  this  incident  brought  together  week  after  week,  such 

numbers  of  persons,  anxious  to  hear  what  might  be  said, 
as  to  compel  us  to  open  our  church  ;  where  lectures  upon 
the  great  points  of  doctrinal  difference  between  Catholics 
and  Protestants  were  continued  until  the  early  part  o! 
December,  when  I  left  the  city  on  a  journey  from  whicl 
I  have  just  returned* 

In  the  course  of  one  of  these  lecturer,  in  which  it  was 
attempted  to  prove  that  the  Roman  Catholic  church 
is  essentially  and  universally  aggressive,  exclusive  and 
intolerant,  I  asserted  incidentally  their  influence  over  the 
whole  political  press  of  this  city.  In  an  editorial  article 
in  the  Gazette  of  December  10,  1834,  it  is  said  that  I  had 
thought  proper  "publicly  and  frequently  to  declare  the 
subserviency  of  the  whole  press  in  this  city  fortius  parti- 
cular sect."  I  will  be  permitted  to  say,  that  neither  res- 
pect for  myself,  nor  for  the  gentlemen  who  conduct  <c  the 
whole  i^ress  in  this  city,"  would  ever  allow  me  to  assert 
its  "  subserviency" — in  such  unqualified  terms  to  any 
set  of  men.  I  have  said,  and  I  am  ready  to  establish 
the  truth  of  the  assertion,  that  the  sect  now  spoken  of, 
has  sought,  and  still  seeks,  a  totally  undue  influence 
over  the  public  press  of  this  city ;  and  wThile  I  charged 
this  rather  as  accusation  against  those  who  sought,  than 
those  who  from  interest  or  feeling,  yielded  to  this  influ- 
ence, in  any  degree  ;  I  am  bound  to  say,  that  I  believe 
the  Catholic  population  of  Baltimore,  with  less  than  one 
quarter  of  the  aggregate  wealth,  enterprise,  and  intelli- 
gence of  this  good  city,  has  for  years  exerted  tenfold  the 
influence  over  the  press,  that  all  the  remaining  three- 
quarters  ever  did.  And,  I  for  one,  am  ready  to  co-ope- 
rate for  the  destruction  of  this  hurtful  and  undue  influ- 
ence. Personally,  I  am  a  stranger  to  most  of  those  who 
conduct  the  public  press  amongst  us  ;  and  never  intend- 
ed to  call  in  question  their  right  to  act  as  they  thought  fit 
in  relation  to  this  subject;  asserting  at  the  same  time, 
the  right  and  the  duty  of  the  Protestants  in  this  city,  to 
provide  against  such  a  state  of  affairs. 


CARMELITE  CONVENT   IN  BALTIMORE.  7 

I  will  be  allpwed  to  sav,  that  it  is  against  the  fatal 
doctrines  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  and  not  against 
the  city  press,  that  I  wage  war.  It  is  with  priests,  and 
not  with  printers  that  1  seek  fairly  to  end  a  controversy, 
forced  upon  me.  It  is  before  the  assemblies  of  the 
people,  not  in  the  daily  papers,  that  I  desire  to  be  allow- 
ed to  explain  the  doctrines  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  and 
free  them  from  the  pollutions  of  the  darkest  ages  and 
the  worst  hierarchy  the  world  ever  saw.  Whenever, 
therefore,  the  present  respectable  archbishop,  or  any  of 
his  learned  bishops,  priests,  or  other  associates  think  fit 
to  accept  a  standing  offer  made  long  ago,  and  now  re- 
peated, by  William  L.  McCalla,  John  Breckinridge, 
and  myself,  we,  or  either  of  us,  will  attempt  to  show  that 
their  religion  is  not  the  religion  of  God,  and  that  their 
church  is  not  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ.  Un- 
less this  fair  and  plain  offer  is  accepted,  I  trust  I  shall 
be  allowed  to  pursue  my  own  course,  in  my  own  pulpit; 
and  that  the  public  will  pay  no  attention  to  the  various 
private  misrepresentations  set  on  foot  to  shield  a  cause 
which  admits  of  no  public  and  manly  defence. 

As  my  na;  .e  and  conduct  \ave  been  repeatedly  called 
in  question,  in  the  Gazette,  during  my  absence,  in  rela- 
tion to  this  subject,  I  hope  the  editor  of  that  paper  will 
feel  no  difficulty  in  publishing  this  statement. 
Very  respectfully, 

Ro.  J.  Breckinridge. 

February  9,  1835. 


NUMBER   II. 

CARMELITE  CONVENT  IN  BALTIMORE;  AN  OUTRAGE  WHICH 
WAS    PROBABLY    COMMITTED  THEREIN. 

Most  of  the  citizens  of  Baltimore  know  that  there  is 
a  convent  of  the  order  of  Carmelite  nuns,  situated  in 
Aisquith  street,  in  this  city.     Any  one  who  chooses  to 


B  CARMELITE   CONVENT  IN   BALTIMORE, 

pass  along  that  wide  and  cool  promenade,  some  summer's 
afternoon,  will  see  the  large  roomy  edifice,  with  its  win- 
dows carefully  closed  and  curiously  grated — and  the 
words  "Carmelite's  Female  Academy,"  painted  in 
large  letters  over  one  of  the  main  entrances. 

By  the  way,  it  has  surprised  us  that  they  who  re- 
nounce marriage,  should  be  so  surprisingly  devoted  to 
children.  The  Jesuits  make  their  ostensible  business, 
the  education  of  boys;  while  all  sorts  of  nuns  seem  to 
have  a  peculiar  propensity  to  deal  with  girls.  Now  this 
is  not  the  case  with  heretics.  Protestant  old  bachelors, 
which  is  the  nighest  approach  we  can  make  to  a  monk, 
are  generally  averse  to  being  tormented  by  urchins.  And 
our  only  class  of  single  females,  that  most  worthy,  tra- 
duced, and  estimable  class  insultingly  called  old  maids, 
generally  prefer  kittens  to  children.  For  our  part,  we 
care  not  wrho  knows  that  we  consider  this,  the  most  ad- 
mirable class  of  human  beings.  We  have  always  noticed 
that  if  any  thing  is  particularly  neat,  refined,  and  just, 
in  person  or  behaviour,  the  world  cries  out,  old  maid!  If 
a  lady  is  especially  estimable  on  account  of  the  purity  of 
her  conduct,  and  the  strictness  of  her  principles,  the  little 
wits  call  her  an  old  maid.  So  that  this  abused  phrase 
has  got  to  sound  pleasant  to  our  hearts;  and  when  we 
hear  it,  we  look  out  for  a  middle  aged  female,  rather  re- 
markably a  lady  (and  oh!  what  is  not  covered  by  that 
word,)  in  all  respects.  Some  may  sneer  at  their  single 
state.  We  take  it  for  granted  they  are  single  from  choice. 
And  this  is  the  only  point  in  the  whole  compass  of  thought, 
in  which  these  are  to  be  likened  to  nuns.  They  are  single 
through  choice.  But  as  we  have  said,  they  are  not  usu- 
ally remarkable  for  devotion  to  other  people's  children. 
Nuns,  are  very  generally  and  rather  impudently  so  devo- 
ted; and  we  should  be  happy  to  have  the  remarkable  fact, 
honestly  and  modestly  solved. 

But  these  poor  Caimelites,  we  verily  believe,  would 
every  one  of  them  rejoice  to  be  out  of  their  cage.  A  pair 
of  girls  once  called  on  us  for  a  donation  to  the  establish- 
ment. We  thought  it  rather  odd:  but  after  a  moment's 
hesitation,  said  yes,  and  offered  them  a  donation  of  twen- 
ty-eight New  Testaments,  which  we  understood  to  be  the 


CARMELITE   CONVENT   IN   BALTIMORE.  9 

number  of  nuns.  The  girls  seemed  posed  in  turn,  and 
civilly  declined  that  gift,  but  rather  urgently  solicited 
something  el-  .      W  lied,  that  Word, 

vould  not  take,  our  best  gift  for  them  was  a 
short  counsel;  our  compliments,  namely,  to  the  ladies 
Mount  (  $  to  the  blessed  vi, .  .  and  the 

urgent  advice,  to  go  home,  get  married,  and  train  up 
children  in  God's  fear.  Whether  the  message  was  ever 
delivered  or  not,  is  not  difficult  to  decide.  That  it  could 
have  been  at  all  available,  we  are  now  aware  was  im- 
possible.    If  we  had  then  supposed  these  poor  victims 

.  unwilling  -iiOuld  have  despised  ovrsei 

for  harboring  a  thought  that  could  wound  them.  But  the 
world  is  getting  wiser,  and  we  trust  we  have  got  a  little 
light  within  a  couple  of  years,  on  several  matters;  and 
amongst  others,  about  a  certain  lady  called  by  one  whose 
word  we  greatly  revere,  the  "mother  of 

We  take  it  for  granted  that  every  body  who  can  read, 
will  read,  and  many  who  cannot  will  gel  others  to  read 
to  them,  something  about  convents.  All  who  want 
wires,  :  course:  all  who  have  children  had  better: 

and  they  who  have  determined  never  to  many,  will  do  as 
they  please.  Mrs.  Sherwood  has  written  a  book,  which 
we  thought  rather  flat;  but  we  heard  of  one  poor  simple- 
ton, it  gave  sense  enough  to,  to  keep  out  of  a  convent, 
and  we  shall  therefore  respect  the  boot.  Scipio  de 
Ricci,  whose  abridged  memoirs  of  his  trials  and  sor- 
rows, and  of  the  corruptions  of  his  diocese,  (he  was  a 
Romish  bishop  in  Tuscany,  towards  the  close  of  the  last 
century) — have  been  published  in  this  country  under  the 
rather  repulsive  title  of  M  The  Secrd  de  Conv- 

.ould  be  read  by  all,  who  have  nerves  enough 
to  stand  a  bird's-eye  view  of  Tophet. — Miss  Read's 
Six  Months  in  a  Convent  ought  to  be  put  into  the  hands 
of  even*  child,  that  goes  to  every  school  of  nuns.  It  is 
an  awful  book  to  the  nuns,  and  poor  bishop  Fenwick. 
Poor  fellow;  we  will  serve  him  up  some  day,  as  he 
cooked  in  that  book,  as  a  desert  for  the  heretics.  That 
is,  if  he  don't  hang  himself  in  consequence  of  its  pub- 
lication.— The  lady  superior  we  take  it  for  granted 
from  the  nature  of  the  case,  and  from  some  symptoms 


10  CARMELITE   CONVENT    IN    BALTIMORE. 

her  keepers  have  allowed  her  to  manifest,  is  hopelessly 
demented. 

But  as  we  intimated,  we  have  changed  our  opinion 
about  the  poor  Carmelites,  in  so  far,  that  whereas  we  once 
thought  they  were  willing  victims  we  are  now  convinced 
they  are  not.  Miss  Read  demonstrates  that  no  one 
would  be  allowed  to  leave  any  convent,  even  of  the  Ur- 
suline  order.  All  who  have  left  them,  have  had  to  make 
their  escape  ;  Miss  Read  being  one  of  four  wTho  escaped 
from  the  convent  on  Mount  Benedict,  at  different  times. 
The  last  of  them  led  to  the  burning  of  the  "cage  of  un- 
clean birds" — last  summer.  And  this  has  been  the  case 
every  wdiere.  Will  the  Catholics  show  us  one  that  has 
been  allowed  to  depart  in  peace?  And  yet  as  far  as  we 
can  gain  an  insight  into  these  dens,  all  desire  to  be  out. 

Now  the  question  arises  how  could  these  females  at 
this  austere  establishment,  of  the  sisters  of  the  blessed 
virgin  Mary  of  Mount  Carmel,  as  the  poor  things  call 
themselves,  get  out  if  they  desired  it  ever  so  ardently? 
How  could  they  get  out0)  None  are  allowed  converse  with 
them,  of  the  male  sex,  except  his  reverence  their  confes- 
sor, who  has  we  dare  to  say,  the  best  room  in  the  house; 
and  his  holiness  the  bishop,  who  of  course,  is  over  all 
and  has  free  access  to  all.  Now,  as  implicit,  unquestion- 
ing, unhesitating  obedience,  is  the  corner  stone  of  all  mo- 
nastic duties  and  merits,  for  my  part,  if  I  were  a  female 
determined  to  eschew  the  masculine  gender,  I  would  as 
leave  this  priest  and  bishop  had  not  quite  such  free  ac- 
cess to  me  and  spiritual  power  over  me.  But  we  speak 
of  temporal  restraints  now.  How  is  she  to  get  out:  when 
the  priest  or  bishop  gets  rude,  or  the  heart  sickens  under 
the  horrible  tedium  of  everlasting  inanity,  or  the  spirit 
boils  over  under  unutterable  indignities,  or  the  body  itself 
is  at  last  worn  down  wTith  cruel  oppression?  Reader  en- 
quire, and  examine  how  could  they  get  out?  None  but 
females,  of  the  world,  are  allowed  to  speak  to  them.  They 
are  allowed  so  to  do,  only  through  a  curiously  contrived 
grate.  The  nuns  never  come  singly;  but  always  in 
pairs  or  by  several,  to  watch  each  other.  Then  their 
dress  and  appearance  arc  so  peculiar  and  similar,  that  to 
uninitiated  eyes  they  all  look  alike;  especially,  through 


CARMELITE  CONVENT  IN  BALTIMORE.        11 

a  grate  in  a  dark  place.  If  one  should  srrow  desperate 
to  the  grate,  and  tell  a  Catholic  woman 
she  wanted  to  get  out,  she  would  only  be  exp 
self  to  ruin.  We  could  tell  some  stories  on  this  head 
that  would  hardly  edify  the  holy  mother  church  to  I 
But  suppose  that  by  perfect  accident,  some  prot» 
female  came  to  the  grate,  and  a  poor  nun  that  \\ 
to  be  let  out  from  the  living  death  within,  shou 
speech  of  her — and  in  her  phrenzy  tell  her  name;  how 
easy  would  it  be  to  substitute  another  for  her,  when  she 
was  enquired  for,  and  let  the  substituted  one  say  she  had 
been  out  of  her  head?  They  got  the  young  lady  who 
escaped  last  from  the  Charlestown  convent,  to  acknow- 
ledge this  of  herself. — Who  would  apply  for  civil  pro- 
vhen  he  expected  to  have  his  house  burnt  for  doing 
it:  Who  would  seek  justice  from  the  tribunals,  when 
he  knows  he  jeopardizes  his  own  life  by  doing  so:  We 
learn  from  the  best'  authority,  that  the  archbishop  has 
been  thoughtful  enough  to  command  his  liege  subjects, 
not  to  use  personal  violence  against  us  for  fear  of  public 
scandal.  And  the  laws  being  insufficient  for  our  protec- 
tion, the  papists  in  town  praise  the  bishop  for  his  mer- 
ciful interposition!  Who  would  wish  to  rouse  the  hatred 
of  people,  who  stop  at  nothing  against  their  enemies  or 
for  their  adherents?  Even  the  wretches  who  in  cold 
blood  murdered  poor  Watson  and  Mercer,  on  the 
Rail  Road  but  the  other  day,  for  no  other  offence  than 
being  Irish  Protestants,  are  not  wiftiout  powerful  friends 
who  are  endeavouring  to  save  them.  And  they  will  pro- 
bably succeed.  We  have  received  repeated  assurances  that 
secret  petitions  are  circulating  through  the  state,  for  their 
pardon  *  Even  the  public  press  is  sealed  up.  The  other 
day,  the  editor  of  the  Gazette  published  a  high  eulogium 
on  the  liberality  of  the  Belgian  Catholic  Parliament,  to 
Protestants.  We  wrote  him  a  short  note  offering:  to  fur- 
nish  him  with  the  manifesto  of  the  Catholic  bishops  of 
this  very  Belgium,  refusing  submission  to  the  free  con- 
stitution of  that  state,  because  said  they,  toleration  of 
any  other  sect,  is  contrary  to  our  faith,  our  duty  and  our 

*  They  were  pardoned. 


12  CARMELITE  CONVENT  IN  BALTIMORE, 

conscience.  Now  said  we  to  the  impartial  protestant 
editor,  will  you  publish  uthis  manifesto?"  If  not  will 
you  publish  our  note?  Good  Mr.  Jones  stood  mute;  and 
so  that  affair  ended. 

We  say  again — these  Carmelite  nuns,  are  unable  to  get 
out,  let  them  desire  it  ever  so  much  !  Why,  will  some 
female  say,  I  would  jump  out  of  the  windows;  I  would 
scream  for  help: — I  would  raise  the  whole  town.  We 
suppose  the  unhappy  female  mentioned  in  the  following 
statement  thought  so  too;  and  became  desperate,  and 
made  just  such  an  attempt.  How  it  ended,  the  day  of 
great  account  will  reveal. 

STATEMENT. 

We  whose  names  are  subscribed  hereto,  declare  and  cer- 
tify, that  on  or  about  the  —  day  of  —  183- —  about  nine 
o f  clock  at  night,  as  we  were  returning  home  from  a  meet- 
ing in  the  Methodist  Protestant  church,  at  the  corner  of 
Pitt  and  Aisquith  streets;  and  when  opposite  to  the  Car- 
melite Convent  and  school  in  Aisquith  street,  our  at- 
tention was  suddenly  arrested  by  a  loud  scream  issuing 
from  the  upper  story  of  the  convent*  The  sound 
was  that  of  a  female  voice,  indicating  great  dis- 
tress; we  stopt  and  heard  a  second  scream;  and 
then  a  third,  in  quick  succession,  accompanied  with  the 
cry  o/HELP!  HELP!  OH!  LORD!  HELP!  with  the 
appearance  of  great  effort.  After  this  there  ivas 
nothing  more  heard  by  jus  during  the  space  often  or  fifteen 
minutes;  we  remained  about  that  time  on  the  pavement 
opposite  the  building  from  which  the  cries  came. 

When  the  cries  were  first  heard,  no  light  icas  visible  in 
the  fourth  story,  from  which  the  cries  seemed  to  issue. 
After  the  cries,  lights  appeared  in  the  second  and  third 
stories, — seeming  to  pass  rapidly  from  place  to  place,  in- 
dicating haste  and  confusion.  Finally  all  lights  disappear- 
ed from  the  second  and  third  stories,  and  the  house  be- 
came quiet. 

No  one  passed  along  the  street  where  we  stood,  while  we 
stood  there.  But  one  of  our  party  ivas  a  man,  and  he  ad- 
vanced in  life;  all  the  remainder  of  us  were  ivomen.  The 
watch  was  not  set,  as  some  of  us  heard  9  o' ) clock  cried,  be~ 
fore  we  got  home. 


CARMELITE    CONVENT    IN    BALTIMORE.  13 

Many  of  us  have  freely    spoken  of  these  things 
their  occurrence,     And  now  at  the  request  of  Messrs.  B. 
fy  0.  $*  M.  ire  gmt  this  statement,  whir1' 

dare  to  be  true;  and  sign  it  with  our  names. 

John    Bru&CUP, 

La yi ma    BROWN, 
SOPIIONIA    BllUSCUP, 

Signed   >      TT  t 

Hannah  Leach, 

Sarah  E.  Baker, 

J       Elizabeth   Polk. 

Baltimore  March  13th,  1835. 


Cert  if  eat  e  of  the  .Minister. 

This  is  in  certify  that  John  Bruscup,  Hannah  Leach, 
Sophonia  Bruscup,  Lavinia  Brown,  and  Sarah  E.  Baker, 
are  acceptable  members  of  the  Methodist  Protestant 
church,  of  Pitt  street  station. 

Signed,  William  Collier,  Sup't.  Baltimore,  March 
12,  1835. 

All  the  above  named  persons  are  known  to  us,  and 
hundreds  in  this  community.  Every  one  of  them  is  wor- 
thy of  credit,  separately.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Collier  is  a 
Protestant  Methodist,  and  has  the  charge  of  the  church 
at  the  corner  of  Pitt  and  Aisquith  streets.  The  five  first 
certificants  are  members  of  the  church  he  serves.  The 
sixth  one  is  a  Presbyterian.  That  the  facts  stated  occurred 
just  as  stated,  no  candid  person  can  doubt.  How  those 
facts  are  to  be  explained,  we  leave  all  to  decide  for  them- 
selves. For  ourselves  we  take  it,  as  perfectly  clear,  that 
the  unhappy  sufferer  from  whom  the  screams  proceeded, 
needed,  and  would  have  thanked  God  for  deliverance! 
She  would  have  come  out  from  them  if  she  could  ;  she 
would  have  escaped  as  a  bird  out  of  the  snare  of  the 
fowler. 

We  take  leave  then  to  say, 

1.  This  whole  subject  must  be  perfectly  familiar  to  the 
superior  of  this  convent,  and  to  the  priest  who  resides 
there  as  confessor  to  the  establishment,  and  we  demand 
of  them  an  explicit  and'  satisfactory  account  of  this  af- 
fair; in  default  of  receiving  which,  we  shall  put  upon  their 
silence  the  only  construction  it  can  bear. 
.2 


14  CARMELITE   CONVENT  IX  BALTIMORE. 

•2.  The  archbishop  of  this  diocese,  ought  to  know  that 
Such  transactions  are  perpetrated  in  this  establishment 

And  if  all  his  American  feelings  arc  not  swallowed  up  in 
his  vows  and  dutiesio  the  head  offhe  holj  Roman  state,  we 

expect  and  call  upon  him  to  ferrel  out  this  transaction, 
and  relieve  the  public  mind  by  a  lull  statement  of  the 
affair. 

3.  To  aid  trim  in  his  humane  labours,  (for  ivhich  we 
trust  he  has  leisure,  as  the  terrapin  frost  of  lent  must 
'now  be  over,)  toe  have  to  say,  that  we  are  ?'•"//  assured  that 
two  females  have  died  within  six  months  in  tfic  Carmelite 
convent;  and  if  he  will  furnish  us  with  the  date  of  their 
deaths,  then  we  ivill  furnish  him  with  the  date  of  the  ter- 
rible affair,  to  which  we  now  call  his  paternal  notice. 

4.  We  ask  our  lawT-makers  and  law  executors,  whether 
their  honest  judgments  do  not  tell  them  that  such  es- 
tablishments ought  either  to  be  suppressed  by  law,  or 
subjected  to  the  most  rigid  and  constant  scrutiny  by  the 
civil  authorities?  If  all  the  past,  in  all  ages  and  countries, 
does  not  prove  that  these  nests  of  unmarried  women, 
under  the  despotic  secret  control  of  unmarried  men,  are 
sure  to  be  places  for  which  they  are  fitly  contrived — of 
all  cruelty,  licentiousness,  and  wretchedness?  Should  such 
terrible  abodes  of  sin  and  folly  be  held  sacred,  in  violating 
human  and  divine  laws,  and  oppressing  and  corrupting, 
if  not  destroying  free  Americans,  because  their  founders 
and  rulers  do  their  misdeeds  in  the  name  of  God? 

5.  We  call  upon  the  community  at  large  to  frown  upon 
such  establishments.  Let  no  man  violate  any  law,  even 
bad  ones.  Let  the  persons,  joroperty  and  rights  of  all  be 
held  sacred.  We  are  no  Jesuits;  ice  know  that  no  end  can 
justify  any  improper  means. — But  public  sentiment  can 
be  and  ought  to  be  enlightened,  roused  and  turned  with 
irresistible  power  against  these  Nunneries.  The  laws 
ought  to  be  so  made  that  the  poor  victims  may  get  out: 
they  ought  to  be  so  executed  that  the  civil  authorities, 
should  statedly,  constantly,  promptly  interfere,  to  see 
what  wrong  is  done,  and  redress  it. — The  rulers  of  these 
convents  ought  to  be  brought  to  justice  for  crime,  just 
like  all  other  criminals. — Children  ought  never  to  be  sent 
to  their  schools; — young  ladies  ought  to  be  sedulously 


QUESTIONS  TO  DETERMINE  THE  TRUE   CHURCH.        15 

kept  from  the  influence  of  nuns  and  their  confessors;  and 
the  whole  public  mind  be  so  informed,  thai  every  poor  girl 
should  know  what   a  place   and  a   fete   she  is   seekifig, 

when  she  sets  her  face  towards  these  abodes  of  sorrow. 
Oh!  that  God  would  deliver  our  land  and  our  children 
"From  the  strange  woman,  even  from  the  stranger  which 
fiattcreth  with  words;  which  forsalcvth  the  guide  of  her 
youth,  and  forgetteth  the  covenant  of  (lod.  For  her 
house    inclineth  unto  death,  and  her  paths  unto  the  deep; 

NONE  THAT    GO    UNTO    HER    RETURN    AGAIN." PrOV.   II. 

1G— 19. 


NUMBER    III. 

QUESTIONS   TO   DETERMINE   THE   TRUE   CHURCH.* 

Baltimore,  March  11th,  1835. 
Dear  Madam, 

Your  note  of  to-day  was  handed  to  me  an  hour  ago, 
and  as  you  seem  urgent  for  some  reply  to  it,  I  will  say 
what  seems  needful  at  once. 

1.  uWas  there  a  visible  church  from  the  time  of  the 
apostles  up  to  the  reformationV>  is  your  first  question. 
How  extensive  the  church  of  God  may  have  been,  in  any 
particular  age  ;  or  to  how  many,  or  to  whom  visible,  it 
may  be  impossible  to  say.  But  I  answer,  that  for  the 
whole  period  you  mention,  there  was  undoubtedly  visible 
a  church  of  God — and  doubtless  also  apostate  churches. 


*  If  the  following  letter  should  meet  the  eye  of  the  lady  to  whom  it  was 
addressed  in  reply  to  a  very  urgent  one  from  her,  we  rely  on  her  goodness  to 
excuse  its  publication,  for  the  following  reasons: — The  subject  is  one  of 
public  and  great  interest; — the  individual  more  particularly  interested 
cannot  be  identified  except  by  some  act  of  her  own,  past  or  future;  the 
points  involved,  all  look  to  one  great  and  most  hacknied  argument  of  the 
papists,  to  prove  the  exclusive  truth  of  their  fatal  system; — and  the  an- 
swers to  the  questions  seem  to  contain  a  perfectly  conclusive,  and  in 
some  good  degree,  new  overthrow  of  their  absurd  and  wicked  pretensions. 


16       QUESTIONS   TO  DETERMINE  THE  TRUE  CHURCH 

2.  "If  so,  name  that  ch/torch."  The  followers  of  Jesus 
were  first  called  Christians  at  Anlioch  ;  his  true  followers 

are  called  so  now,  and  have  been  called  SO  ever  since. 
Until  the  origin  of  the  papacy,  early  in  the  sixth  century, 
the  true  church  was  called  nothing  else,   generally^  but 

Christian;  and  hereticks  received  their  various  names, 
J\ricolaitans,  &c.  After  the  rise  of  the  papacy  till  the 
inning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  about  the  origin  of 
the  inquisition  (embracing  the  mystic  period  of  666  years 
spoken  of  in  Scripture,  and  being  the  first  part  of  the 
1260  years  that  the  true  church  was  in  the  wilderness,) 
the  various  sects  gradually  spread  and  gained  ground, 
and  especially  papists,  or  followers  of  the  bishop  of  Rome, 
who  finally  assumed  the  name  of  Roman,  Catholic,  and 
Apostolical,  leaving  the  true  name  of  the  true  followers  of 
Jesus  still  Christian.  But  the  papists  becoming  domi- 
nant over  all  Europe,  nicknamed  the  true  followers  of 
Jesus,  who  constituted  the  true  church,  by  various  names 
in  various  ages.  Some  they  called  Hussites,  some  Poor 
men  of  Lyons,  some  Waldenses,  &c.  &c.  Early  in  the 
nineteenth  century  they  gave  us  other  names,  as  Luther- 
ans,  Protestants,  &c.  But  the  name  of  our  church  ever 
preferred  by  us  in  all  ages  is  Christian,  in  opposition  to 
Arianism,  when  it  was  triumphant,  and  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Apostolic  during  its  long  rule.  History,  sacred, 
ecclesiastical  and  profane,  is  full  of  proof  cf  the  constant 
existence  of  this  true  church  of  God. 

3.  "Where  was  it  to  be  foundV  In  every  country  of 
Europe,  in  great  part  of  Asia,  and  in  portions  of  Africa. 
Considering  that  the  Papists  persecuted  us  for  1260 
years,  during  594  of  wThich  they  brought  the  awful  tribu- 
nal of  the  inquisition  to  act  upon  our  people  every  where; 
considering  that  they  burnt  many  of  our  books,  that  they 
falsified  many  others  by  making  us  speak  what  we  never 
said,  that  they  wrote  absolute  falsehoods  upon  us,  and 
that  they  prohibited  all  the  world  from  reading  what  we 
wrote,  and  all  this  lor  so  many  hundreds  of  years;  it  is 
little  less  than  miraculous,  that  any  trace  of  our  existence 
is  to  be  found  from  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  to  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  period  equal  to  more  than 
a  fifth  part  of  the  world's  duration. 


QUESTIONS  TO  DETERMINE  THE  TRUE   CHURCH.        17 

4.  "At  what  period  did  the  church  of  Rome  apostatize*)" 
If  you  will  read  the  Bible  and  then  the  history  of  Euse- 
bius,  you  will  find  that  for  324  years  after  the  birth  of 
Jesus,  not  a  single  distinguishing  tenet  of  the  Romish 
church   existed   in  the   world.      Transubstantiation,   the 

n  sacrijicc,  the  adoration  of  Mary,  the  worship  of 
saints,  the  veneration  of  images  and  relics,  the  seven  sa- 
craments, articular  confession,  &c.  &c.  not  one  existed 
in  our  true  Christian  church.  The  apostacy  of  Rome 
commenced  with  the  exercise  \  of  persecution,  and  was 
complete  when  she  became  drunk  uritk  the  blood  of  the 
saints.  In  532,  or  about  that  year,  the  emperor  of  Rome  t 
conferred  on  the  bishop  of  Rome,  power  to  produce  con-  ^ 
formity  in  doctrine  by  temporal  punishment;  here  the  \ 
apostacy  began.  About  1198,  this  power  was  more  com- 
pletely organized  by  the  erection  of  the  inquisition,  at 
the  end  of  666  years  after  the  apostacy  began,  as  the 
scriptures  had  foretold.  In  1545  the  council  of  Trent 
commenced  its  session,  and  at  the  end  of  eighteen  years, 
broke  up  in  1563.  The  cardinal  Du  Ferier,  who  was 
ambassador  of  the  king  of  France  at  that  famous  coun- 
cil, entered  his  protest  against  every  thing  it  had  done ! 
When  that  council  rose,  the  Papal  apostacy  was  complete, 
after  a  regular  and  downward  career  of  folly  and  crime 
for  more  than  a  thousand  years  !  From  that  time  God;s 
command  is  most  express  that  his  people  should  come 
out  of  her,  lest  they  be  partakers  of  her  sins  !  Oh  !  that 
they  would  all  obey  the  hallowed  command,  and  flee 
from  a  church,  to  which  in  all  the  Bible  there  is  not  one 
promise,  nor  even  one  exhortation  to  repentance ;  but 
only  wrath,  and  denunciation,  and  wo! 

5.  "  What  sect  or  society  of  Christians  professed  the 
doctrines  of  the  Protestant  religion  previous  to  the  reform- 
ation, name  it  or  them?"  What  I  have  already  said, 
may  be  a  complete  answer  to  this  question.  But  I  will 
add  more.  We  can  trace  back  our  doctrines  in  our 
blood,  shed  by  Rome  for  holding  them,  up  to  the  year 
1100  and  before;  so  that  we  have  existed  as  the  true 
Christian  church  since  then,  Rome  being  judge.  Dear 
madam,  they  burned  people,  and  incarcerated  them  seven 

hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  for  holding  what  I  preach 
2* 


18       QUESTIONS  TO  DETERMINE  THE  TRUE   CHURCH. 

five  or  six  times  a  week  in  this  city.  If  they  gave  us 
fifty  nicknames,  and  told  hundreds  of  lies  on  us,  it  is  no 
more  than  they  do  now.  Let  us  now  begin  at  the  other 
end  of  time,  and  we  find  that  from  the  birth  of  Christ  for 
532  years,  there  was  no  lioruan  Catholic  and  Ap&toHc 
church  established  among  men.  But  in  that  year  we  find 
an  emperor  giving  a  bishop  of  Rome  power  to  persecute 
us.  For  what?  For  not  agreeing  with  him.  In  what? 
Why  during  the  568  years  that  intervened  between  532 
when  he  got  the  power,  and  1100  when  he  began  to  use 
it  without  the  least  remainder  of  compassion,  even  during 
these  dark  568  years,  we  find  the  evidence  of  our  doc- 
trines in  the  blood  of  our  martyrs  shed  by  Rome.  And 
oh  !  shall  any  protestant  Christian  now  ask  what  did  that 
butchery  mean,  what  did  that  cruelty  signify,  who  were 
those  martyrs — what  names  did  they  bear  ?    Alas  !  Alas  ! 

And  now  allow  me  to  ask,  why  do  you  put  such  ques- 
tions to  me  ?  Do  you  doubt  the  reality  of  your  hopes  in 
Christ,  that  your  heart  turns  away  to  seek  some  other 
trust  ?  If  this  be  so,  go  to  Jesus,  and  to  his  blessed  word, 
the  real  sources  of  light  and  support. 

How  can  it  effect  the  reality  of  religion,  to  have  the 
questions  you  have  put  perfectly  solved  or  completely 
darkened  ?  Or  in  what  conceivable  way  would  it  benefit 
the  cause  of  the  papacy,  to  show  that  it  had  reigned  tri- 
umphant in  sin  for  a  million  of  ages,  li  sitting  in  darkness 
and  drinking  blood?" 

She  has  corrupted  and  then  hid  the  Scriptures  ;  she  has 
murdered  and  then  slandered  the  saints  ;  She  has  degrad- 
ed and  then  tyranized  over  the  human  race  ;  and  now, 
when  by  the  most  wonderful  goodness  of  God,  and  the 
rarest  concurrence  of  blessed  providences,  we  have  dis- 
covered her  pollutions  and  shaken  off  her  chains,  and 
seen  the  light  of  spiritual  truth,  and  learned  the  power  oi 
the  new  birth  in  our  own  souls;  she  comes  to  claim  a  new 
obedience  by  reason  of  the  antiquity  and  exclttfciveness 
of  her  enormities! 

I  wish  you  to  bear  with  me,  while  I  say  two  things  : 
which  I  try  to  do  in  meekness  as  well  as  in  candour. 

First,  I  do  not  believe  that  any  sensible  and  educated 
person  who  has  been  properly  enlightened  by  previous 


ROMANISM POLITICAL  AND   RELIGIOUS.  19 

knowledge  of  the  truth,  ever  did,  can,  or  ever  will  beli< 
the  dogmas  of  the  Roman  faith,     For  my  part,  1  candidly 
confess,  that  I  consider  ii  the  most  incredible  of  all  ij 
terns,  not  excepting  atheism   itself.      It  B  are,  in 

short,  incapable  of  belief.  Secondly — 1  confidently  be- 
lieve that  a  faithful  adherence  to  the  comin  the 
Romish  church  as  far  as  is  possible,  both  in  faith  and  in 
practice,  will  necessarily  prevent  the  salvation  of  the 
soul.  For  that  church  is  fatally  and  hopelessly  aposta- 
tized from  God.                                                  R.  J.  B. 


NUMBER   IV. 

ROMANISM POLITICAL    AND    RELIGIOUS. 

This  country  has  never  witnessed  any  impression  so 
extensive  and  so  profound,  produced  in  so  short  a  space 
of  time,  as  that  which  within  a  few  years  has  been  made 
upon  the  public  mind  respecting  the  dangers  of  Roman- 
ism to  the  nation.  No  men  have  ever  had  more  reason 
to  rejoice  in  the  manly  and  firm  discharge  of  duty,  than 
those  who  so  recently  and  so  few  in  number,  undertook  to 
sound  an  alarm  to  the  American  people  on  this  subject. 
The  writings  that  denounced  them  are  scarcely  dry — be- 
fore half  the  country  is  moved  by  the  voice  of  their  ap- 
peal. The  calumnies  heaped  upon  them  are  yet  trembling 
on  the  lips  of  guilty  men,  and  struggling  from  a  dying- 
press, — while  the  words  of  a  whole  awakened  population, 
and  the  voice  of  innumerable  books,  pamphlets,  and 
papers,  and  the  echoes  of  hundreds  of  pulpits,  declare 
that  there  was  need  of  effort,  and  that  it  has  been  made 
with  the  utmost  promise  of  complete  success. 

It  would  be  the  height  of  folly  to  pretend  that  this  r«E  - 
suit  has  been  produced  entirely,  by  the  direct  efforts  made 
to  awaken  the  country  to  the  great  and  increasing  evils 
threatened  by  the  papal  superstition  to  this  land.     Very 


20  ROMANISM POLITICAL    AND    RELIGIOU9. 

much  has  been  done,  however,  directly  in  that  way — and 
the  result  demonstrates,  that  there  exists  in  our  country 
a  real  and  deep  seated  religious  public  sentiment,  which 
is  capable  of  being  reached,  roused,  and  concentrated, 
for  the  safety  of  our  faith,  and  the  advancement  of  our 
Master's  cause.  And  Christians  should  learn  to  cherish 
this  noble  sentiment,  to  understand  its  mighty  power,  and 
to  sustain  and  extend  every  instrument  that  is  fit  to  foster 
and  wield  it;  and  amongst  the  chiefest  of  them  all,  a 
free,  pure,  able,  extended  religious  periodical  press.  What 
political  newspapers  are  to  the  transient  movements  of 
parties  around  us,  so  might  the  periodical  religious  press 
be  to  the  world,  and  the  enduring  interests  of  man.  It 
needs  indeed,  a  better  support  and  a  wider  diffusion;  and 
requires  purgation — as  to  its  own  end,  as  well  as  its 
common  means.  But,  it  is  a  mighty  instrument,  whose 
power  and  value  the  world  has  yet  to  learn. 

Exterior  events  and  circumstances  thrown  together  in 
rapid  succession;  foreign  agitations  and  movements, — ex- 
traordinary domestic  developements,--the  operation  of  the 
social  elements  of  our  great  cities, — the  progress  of  higher 
education  in  schools  and  colleges, — the  contact  of  re- 
ligious sects,  and  many  causes  have  developed  this  whole 
papal  subject,  with  amazing  rapidity  and  effect.  The 
people  understand  in  part — and  the  demand  for  more 
light  is  urgent  and  insatiable.  We  suppose  it  may  be 
profitable  therefore,  to  take  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  real 
state  of  the  question,  up  to  the  present  moment. 

The  Roman  Catholic  and  Apostolical  church,  as  she 
vainly  calls  herself,  from  the  beginning  of  her  apostacy, 
has  been  totally  exclusive.  Hence  the  foundation  of  her 
claims  to  infallibility;  hence  her  universal  spirit  of  per- 
secution; hence  the  inquisition,  and  the  Jesuits;  hence 
the  dreadful  immorality  of  her  code,  and  the  unsparing 
brutality  of  her  long  course  of  crime.  The  mother  and 
mistress  of  all  churches,  says  the  creed  of  Pius  IV:  hence 
inferred  the  Rheims  annotators,  all  heretics  are  at  once 
disobedient  children  and  rebellious  subjects — and  their 
punishment  IS  to  be  considered  like  thai  of  traitors  and 
thieves;  afrd  hence  judged  the  Dominican,  whose  first  duty 
it  was  to  be  a  spj  on  such  impious  rebles,that  sincerity,  and 


ROMANISM POLITICAL    AND  RELIGIOUS.  21 

honour,  and  faith,  were  idle  words  towards  them;  and 
hence  argued  the  holy  tribunal  of  the  inquisition,  that 
the  double  good  of  the  reformation  of  heretics  and  the 
spread  of  the  church's  pure  influence  might  justii\  then 

temporal  death;  and  last  and  just  as  truly  iVom  the  pre- 
mises, hence  concludes  the  reckless  Jesuit,  that  the  only 
Service  worth  performing  on  earth  is  to  reduce  it  back 
again  to  that  subjection  to  the  vicar  of  Christ  which  he 
who  made  it  ordained  that  it  should  bear.  The  very 
formularies  of  the  Roman  faith,  make  two  parties  of  the 
universe;  the  hierarchy  with  the  Pope  at  its  head,  on  one 
side; — on  the  other,  all  mankind  that  will  not  be  their 
slaves.  Their  very  creed  draws  a  line,  deep  and  broad 
as  the  impassable  gulf,  between  the  world  within,  and 
the  world  without  the  Romish  faith.  All  must  hold  that 
faith,  be  it  what  it  may — or  else  says  the  substitute  of 
God,  all  the  earth  must  die;  this  is  the  first,  and  is  a  re- 
ligious proposition.  They  add  the  second  to  it,  all  the 
world  must  be  seduced  or  conquered  into  this  faith,  or  be 
cut  off;  this  is  a  political  proposition,  commensurate  with 
the  human  race.  Other  religions,  may  assert  the  first — 
in  some  qualified  sense;  but  as  they  leave  the  election  of 
their  faith  or  hell  to  the  free  choice  of  men,  states  may 
safely  listen  to  them  all.  This  superstition  alone,  with 
inextinguishable  ardour,  labours  with  a  faith  in  its  divine 
truth,  practically  to  enforce  the  second  proposition;  there- 
fore It  only  remains  for  mankind  to  become  papists — or 
to  extirpate  papism  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth,  or  to 
exist  in  a  state  of  ceaseless  conflict.  Such  is  the  real 
state  of  the  case.  As  a  religious  question,  every  man  is 
as  deeply  interested  in  it,  as  he  is  in  the  question  of  being 
saved  or  damned  hereafter;  for  the  papists  assert  their 
faith  to  be  indispensable  to  salvation;  while  all  else  be- 
lieve their  practices  to  be  preclusive  of  it.  As  a  political 
question,  every  man  has  the  same  interest  in  it  that  he 
has  in  being  free, — being  at  peace — being  the  father  of 
his  own  children — the  husband  of  his  own  wife — the 
master  of  his  own  house — the  owner  of  his  own  estate; 
for  all  that  exists  of  the  history  of  this  religio-political 
heresy,  proves  it  to  be  the  most  horrible  of  all  tyrannies, 
and  the  most  corrupt  of  all  social  conditions  compatible 
with  organized  society. 


22  ROMANISM POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS. 

The  faith  of  Rome  admits  of  no  change  that  can  make 
an)    mitigation   of  this  question.      An   infallible  bf 

cannot  admit  that  be  bas erred.     lb-  \s  the  sj  yer, 

if  lie  be  pure,      Bfe  what  he  may,  whal    he  lias  once  done 
lie  must  forever  defend  or  cease  to  claim   infallibility.    If 

he  be  evil, — and  whal  limn  is  riot? — 1<>M';  up  such  a  pre- 
tension is  simply  to  make  it  sure,  that  he  will  defend  most 
tenaciously  the  vny- worst  parte  of  his  conduct  If  there 
be  any  infallibility  about  Rome,  it  lies  just  here}  the  in- 
fallible certainly  thai  being  mi  n  her  popes  and  councils 
would  egregiously  err,  in  a  long  period  of  time;  and  that 
having  set  up  a  contrary  pretension,  she  would  be  certain 
to  cleave  the  closest  to  her  worst  practices,  and  defend 
most  intemperately  her  wildest  absurdities.  And  so  it 
has  been  continually.  Even  when  the  reformation  might 
have  been  arrested  by  timely  reform — wThen  the  Pope 
himself,  strange  to  say,  admitted  that  reform  to  be  indis- 
pensible,andthe  most  steadfast  friends  of  Rome  urged  it, — 
the  spirit  of  the  hierarchy,  and  the  deep  seated  power  of  the 
principles  here  stated,  defeated  the  good  intentions  of 
Adrian  VI.  and  precipitated  the  crisis  so  fatal  to  Rome. 
That  Pope,  the  preceptor  of  the  emperor  Charles  V. 
and  a  native  of  Germany,  directed  Cheregato,  his  le- 
gate to  the  Diet  of  Nuremburg,  in  1522,  to  admit  that  ex- 
traordinary and  manifold  corruptions  had  crept  into  the 
church.  aMany  abominable  things" — says  his  instructions 
to  his  legate,  "have  been  committed  in  this  holy  chair  for 
"several  years  past. — Abuses  in  spiritual  things,  excesses 
"in  the  mandates  given,  and  in  fine  every  thing  changed  for 
"the  worse.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  sickness  should 
"descend  from  the  head  to  the  members,  from  the  elevated 
"pontiffs  to  inferior  prelates.  In  what  relates  to  us,  you 
"will  therefore  promise,  that  we  shall  do  our  endeavours, 
"that  our  court,  from  which  perhaps  all  this  evil  has  pro- 
ceeded, undergo  a  speedy  reform.  If  corruption  has  of 
"late  (lowed  from  it,  sound  doctrine  and  reformation  shall 
"now  proceed  from  the  same  source.  To  this  we  shall  ac- 
count ourselves  the  more  obliged  to  attend,  as  the  whole 
"world  appears  most  ardently  to  desire  the  accomplish- 
ment of  such  a  reform.  1  hare  accepted  the  Pontificate, 
"that  I  might  reform  the  spouse  of  Christ,  assist  the  nc- 


ROMANISM — POLITICAL  AM)   RELIGIOUS.  23 

■fleeted  and  oppressed,  and  appropriate  to  //<■  and 

rtuous,  the  money  which  has  of  late  been  squandi 
i  grooms  and  stage-players."     About  a  year  alter  tl 

instructions  were  written,  a  proposition  was  made  to  the 
Diet  from  a  quarter  friendly  to  the  church  of  Rome,  and 
seriously  recommended,  that  priests  should  be  prohibited 
\eddHng  in  traffic,  from  frequenting  taverns, 
and  from  keeping  CONCUBINES."  Indeed  this  very 
Diet  of  Nuremberg,  whilst  it  declared  in  favour  of  the  edict 
of  that  of  Worms,  virtually  silencing  all  discussion  till  the 
call  of  a  general  council,  and  provisionally  suspending  even 
the  functions  of  the  reformed  preachers,  at  the  same  mo- 
ment issued  the  famous  Centum  Gravamina,  containing  one 
hundred  ecclesiastical  grievances  under  which  they  labored, 
and  exhibiting  the  most  terrible  corruptions,  both  of  faith  and 
practice  in  the  popish  church.  (See  Seckendorf,  p.  225. 
Sleid.  1.  iv.  Jac.  Frid.  Gcorgii  Gravamina  Germanorum, 
ke.  1.  ii.  p.  327.  Boiver's  Life  of  Luther,  p.  210 — 17  and 
342. )  Of  course,  all  these  admissions,  promises  and  recom- 
mendations came  to  nothing.  The  worst  evils  then  complain- 
ed of  stillcontinue,incountries  where  the  Catholic  is  the  only 
religion;  the  worst  dogmas  of  the  church  still  being  those 
most  steadily  enforced.  There  have  been  more  people 
burnt  at  the  stake,  for  denying  the  doctrine  of  transubstan- 
tiation,  than  for  any  other  pretended  heresy  :  a  doctrine 
which  contradicts  every  sense  a  man  has,  all  the  reason  he 
can  command — the  principles  of  three  or  four  sciences,  and 
those  amongst  the  most  exact — and  is  at  the  same  moment, 
against  the  word  of  God,  and  the  honour  of  Jesus  Christ. 
A  dogma  in  short,  which  is  simply  incapable  of  belief,  as 
a  truth,  and  if  true,  would  be  so  stupendously  horrible  and 
brutal,  that  a  man  might  almost  be  justified  in  refusing  cre- 
dence to  his  senses,  his  reason,  and  his  very  consciousness, 
backed  by  the  best  proofs  of  science,  rather  than  credit  the 
amazing  impiety  involved  in  the  supposition,  that  he  could 
create  and  swallow  a  hundred  millions  of  Gods!  Matter  is 
infinitely  devisible;  and  the  Council  of  Trent  has  decided 
that  Christ  exists  whole  and  entire,  soul,  body,  blood  and 
divinity,  in  every  particle  of  both  sacraments!! 

In  truth,  the  church  of  Rome,   as  she  cannot,  does  not 
pretend  to  be  capable,  any  more  than  desirous  of  reform. 


24  R0MAIS7SM — POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS 

She  is  unalterable.  Therefore,  we  find  at  this  moment, 
school  books  printed  and  put  in  circulation  in  Catholic 
countries,  filled  with  instructions  absolutely  at  war  with  all 
sense  of  shame;  and  books  of  devotion  printed  in  the  United 
States  for  common  use,  tint  shock  all  decency,  by  the  utter 
beastliness  of  their  allusions.  Thus  too,  the  most  extrava- 
gant fooleries  of  the  darkest  ages  are  enacted,  amid  the  light 
of  the  nineteenth  century;  and  enlightened  men  pretend  to 
believe  that  the  Holy  Ghost  inspired  ignorant  and  barbarous 
ecclesiastics,  who  pronounced  the  original  tongues  in  which 
God  spoke  to  his  prophets,  recent  inventions  of  the  devil; 
and  free  citizens  of  the  United  States,  expect  to  merit 
heaven,  by  regulating  their  diet  after  the  prescriptions  of  an 
unhappy  and  silly  old  man  at  Rome!  Nay  the  highest 
toned  doctrines  of  the  trans-alpine  party,  in  popish  politico, 
are  held  and  taught,  and  practised  all  over  the  world,  where 
Jesuits  exist,  with  reference  to  the  power  and  influence  of 
the  Pope, — as  fully  as  they  were  declared  by  Lainez,  the 
second  general  of  their  order,  at  the  council  of  Trent  three 
centuries  ago. 

A  concatination  of  circumstances  has  exposed,  and  will 
continue  to  expose  this  nation  to  more  than  a  common  share 
of  the  danger  to  which  all  are  subject,  from  the  intrigues  of 
this  superstition.  Every  distinctive  feature  of  our  social 
system  encourages  attempts  against  us;  and  every  move- 
ment in  the  elements  of  the  decaying  and  renovating  systems 
of  the  old  world  has  a  tendency  to  throw  off  upon  us  the 
worst  portions  of  their  population.  The  suppression  of  the 
monasteries  in  Portugal  and  Spain,  and  the  expulsion  of 
the  Jesuits  from  the  latter,  all  occurring  under  the  new  and 
more  liberal  order  of  things  in  both  states;  the  free  tolera- 
tion of  the  Protestant  religion  in  France,  since  the  revolu- 
tion of  1 830,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  same  degree,  since 
the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz, — thus  raising  up  a 
practical  exposure  of  papism,  and  restraining  its  absurdities 
by  an  open  contempt,  all  over  France,  and  in  the  same  de- 
gree making  the  priests  uneasy,  and  disposed  to  find  new 
abodes; — the  very  reform  bill  of  England,  which  restrain- 
ing suffrage  to  a  point  above  the  reach  of  most  papists  out 
of  Ireland,  and  the  still  more  momentous  act  to  papists, 
namely,  the  one  for  Catholic  emancipation,  drawn  by  Sir 


ROMANISM POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS.  26 

Robert  Peel  himself,  in  which  there  is  an  express  <  lause, 
excepting  the  Jesuits  from  all  participation  in  the  benefits 
of  the  act,  and  excluding  them  from  Britain;  a  thousand 

contingencies  abroad  arc  driving  them  upon  as.  On  the 
other  hand,  every  thing  lino  invites  them.  Our  public 
improvements  give  them  immediate  and  constant  employ- 
ment, at  very  liiii.li  wages;  while  the  priests,  i'roiu  tin-  re- 
gular levies  on  such  its  live  and  the  constant  plunder  oi 
such  as  die,  live  in  luxury  and  project  extensive  churches, 
with  inquisitions  under  them,  and  nunneries  beside  them 
— for  the  joint  exercise  of  their  malevolence  and 
suality,  the  leading  passfous— -which  their  rules  cherish. 
Our  commercial  treaties  open  a  direct  trade  in  German 
and  Irish  Catholics,  which  lands  nothing  short  of  one 
hundred  thousand  every  year  on  our  coasts.  Into  Balti- 
more alone,  about  ten  thousand  Germans,  most  of  them 
papists,  are  brought  annually  from  the  free  cities  in  the 
north  of  Germany,— in  vessels,  returning  laden  with  to- 
bacco, at  rates  so  low  as  to  drive  our  own  ships  from  ex- 
porting our  own  products.  Our  naturalization  laws  al- 
low all  these  people  to  become  American  citizens  in  five 
years.  And  nearly  every  state  in  the  Union  allows  every 
such  person,  over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  to  vote  at  all 
our  elections  as  soon  as  he  is  naturalized:  a  right  they 
never  had  at  home,  and  are  unfit  to  have  any  where;  dan- 
gerous to  us,  and  of  no  personal  advantage  to  them.  Be- 
cause, the  most  of  them  are  not  only  entirely  ignorant 
of  our  condition,  our  system,  and  our  policy,  but  are  the 
most  degraded  and  brutal  w^hite  population  in  the  world, 
and  appear  to  be  utterly  insensible  that  public  order  is  a 
good,  that  obedience  to  law  is  a  virtue  as  well  as  a  benefit, 
or  that  human  blood  is  more  precious  than  that  of  unclean 
beasts.  And  whether  wise  or  stupid,  good  or  bad,  their 
priests  control  their  votes,  direct  their  combinations,  en- 
courage their  violence,  attempt  to  shield  them  from  pun- 
ishment,—extenuate  their  ill  conduct,  and  are  their  ab- 
solute directors.  It  is  settled  truth  in  all  our  great  cities, 
that  the  word  of  the  priest,  is  more  powerful  than  the  cord 
of  the  hangman;  and  hundreds  of  people  have  seen  mobs 
quelled  by  the  voice  of  a  foreign  priest,  w^hen  the  whole 
power  of  our  laws  was  defied.  Indeed,  father  Mcllroy. 
3 


26  ROMANISM — POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS. 

of  Frederick  city,  in  Maryland,  has  received,  if  we  are 
rightly  informed,  a  vole  of  thanks  and  a  present  perhaps 
M  plate,  from  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail  Iload  Compa- 
ny, lor  quelling  a  riot  which  the  laws  of  .Maryland  could 
not  arrest,  among  a  gang  of  ruffians  that  the  citizens  of 
two  of  our  counties,  in  mere  self  defence,  were  forced  to  re- 
solve in  public  meeting,  to  drive  forever  from  their  vicin- 
age, with  arms  in  their  hands.  In  Michigan,  in  New- 
York,  in  the  west,  in  the  south,  every  where,  the  priests 
secretly  control  the  foreign  Catholic  vote;  -<)iu\  that  vote 
decides  our  elections!  By  the  way,  our  old  friend.  Bishop 
England  will  oblige  us  by  letfing  us  know,  what  he 
did  with  priest  O'Neal,  whom  he  removed  from  Colum- 
bia, S.  C.,  as  was  supposed,  for  disagreeing  with  and 
thwarting  his  lordship  in  his  political  schemes? 

Now  if  our  priests  were  men  of  reasonable  intelligence 
and  attainments,  which  commonly  they  are  not;  if  they 
really  understood  and  loved  our  system,  which  ordinarily 
they  do  not;  if  they  were  Americans,  instead  of  being 
generally  foreigners;  if  they  held  a  pure  and  moral  system 
of  religion  instead  of  a  most  depraved  and  monstrous 
one;  if  they  were  the  very  best  instead  of  amongst  the 
very  worst  men  in  the  land;  it  must  be  perfectly  clear  to 
every  thinking  man,  that  it  would  be  eminently  wrong  in 
a  social  state  resembling  ours,  to  permit  them  to  hold 
and  exert  the  enormous  and  irresponsible  powers  which 
reside  in  their  hands.  But  the  fact  is,  every  priest  is  in 
abject  and  sworn  subjection  and  fidelity  to  a  foreign  au- 
thority; a  prince  absolutely  represented  by  diplomatic 
agents  in  our  owTn  country,  (the  Pope  has  a  consul  now 
residing  in  this  city;)  a  sovereign  whose  states  are  as 
really  his,  as  those  of  any  other  prince  are  his, — and  who 
besides  his  local  sovereignty,  which  is  most  despotic  over 
his  own  kingdom,— and  his  universal  supremacy  claimed 
over  all  the  citizens  of  all  countries  on  earth,  and  his  di- 
rect power  as  the  vicar  of  Christ,  over  every  thing  that 
Christ  could  control,  if  he  were  personally  present ;  be- 
sides all  these,  has  ever  claimed  and  exercised  the 
most  insolent  power  over  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world, 
—dethroning  princes,— releasing  subjects  from  oaths  of 
allegiance,— taking  crowrns  from  one  head  and  placing 


ROMANISM POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS.  27 

them  on  another, — extirpating  whole  states  by  cruel  wars 
— dashing  nations  against  each  other  in  furious  conflict — 

parcelling  out  whole  continents  as  gifts  to  his  \asM-!s, — 
and  emptying  one  quarter  of  the  earth  in  exterminating 
crusades  upon  another!     These  priests  that  exercise  this 

power  over  the  destinies  of  this  great  nation,  are  as  many  of 
them  as  are  Jesuits,  sworn  to  unquestioning  obedience 
to  a  foreign  subject  of  a  foreign  prince;  and  still  farther 
sworn  to  unlimited  devotion  to  the  Pope  of  Rome,  to 
whom  their  general  is  devoted  by  oath;  and  every  one  of 
them  that  is  a  bishop  has  taken  a  solemn  oath  at  his  con- 
secration to  the  head  of  the  Roman  state,  the  terrible 
power  indicated  above,  more  specific  and  more  minute 
than  any  oath  of  allegiance  any  other  state  ever  ad- 
ministered. They  receive  their  offices  from  this  foreign 
sovereign,  directly  and  universally;  although  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  expressly  discountenances  any 
obligation  from  its  citizens  to  any  "king  or  foreign  state" 
— positively  prohibiting  that  portion  of  the  people  in  its 
service  from  receiving  in  that  way,  either  "present, 
emolument,  office  or  title,  of  any  kind  whatever,"  (sec.  ix. 
7.)  How  did  Sir  Charles  Constantine  Pise  get  over 
the  direct  force  of  this  article,  wTho  being  in  the  enjoyment 
of  titles  if  not  emoluments  received  from  Rome,  was  at 
the  same  moment  in  the  service  of  Congress?  And  what 
have  the  senators  to  say  who  elected  him?  And  what 
have  all  the  bishops  to  say,  against  the  spirit  of  this  article? 
And  what  have  our  courts  and  district  attorneys  to  say, 
that  they  do  not  require  all  priests,  Jesuits  and  bishops  of 
this  sect  to  renounce  the  Pope  of  Rome  when  they  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance?  And  what  has  bishop  England 
to  say,  as  to  his  being  legate  from  the  Pope  to  Hayti,  and 
still  pretending  to  be  a  republican  and  an  American 
citizen? 

This  is  the  spirit  of  the  papacy  to  day,  as  much  as  it  was 
when  the  popes  caused  the  Albigenses  to  be  butchered, 
or  the  Bohemians  to  be  pursued  like  beast  of  the  chase 
in  the  thirteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  Since  we  com- 
menced writing  this  article,  news  has  been  received 
in  this  country,  that  all  the  toils  and  sacrifices  of  twenty 
years  of  revolution  are  to  be  thrown  away  through  the 


28  ROMANISM POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS. 

intrigues  of  the  same  priests,  that  have  caused  so  many 
calamities  already  to  Mexico.     The  constitution  of  that 

unfortunate  people  is  to  be  set  aside  foi  the  sake  of  the 
priests  and  their  servile  banditti,  who  call  themselves 
soldiers  of  the  republic;  and  under  the  dictation  of  Santa 
Anna,  as  tool  6f  the  ecclesiastics,  all  civilization,  all  free- 
dom, and  all  religion  must  be  crushed!  The  plan  of  To- 
LUCA,  settled  already  by  the  priests  and  the  armed  mob, 
converts  a  representative  republic  like  our  own,  into  a 
great  central  system;  and  the  very  second  article  of  the 
project  declares,  "that  the  constitution  to  be  established, 
must  be  based  on  the  acknowledgment  exclusive- 
ly of  the  Catholic  Apostolic  Roman  Religion!!" 
This  bears  date  May  29,  1835.  Preparatory  to  this, 
on  the  25th  of  April  preceding,  the  Mexican  govern- 
ment issued  a  decree  annulling  the  laws  of  the  states 
of  Coahuilla  and  Texas,  relative  to  emigration,  thus 
throwing  insuperable  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  settle- 
ment of  North  Americans  in  those  states.  And  now  in 
Guatimala,  the  same  devotion  of  the  priests  the  Jesuits 
and  the  bishops  to  Rome,  and  the  same  submission  of  the 
people  to  the  ecclesiastics,  which  have  desolated  so  many 
lands,  are  breaking  all  the  bands  of  society  in  sunder.  For- 
merly, thejpriests  ruled  with  absolute  power  in  Guatimala; 
then  the  revolution  succeeded,  and  nature  and  common 
sense  had  the  sway  for  a  brief  space.  During  this  inter- 
val oflight,the  supreme  power  declared  it  lawful  for  priests 
to  marry.  God  and  nature,  and  morality  and  the  world 
had  said  the  same  always.  So,  many  priests  married, — 
and  became  moral  and  decent  men.  But  by  and  by, 
Rome  ordered  the  law  to  be  repealed;  the  state  of  Guati- 
mala obeys:  and  the  priests  have  the  option  of  returning 
to  their  former  state  of  concubinery  relationship,  under 
pretence  of  chastity,  or  of  ceasing  to  be  priests.  The 
state  is  Catholic  like  Mexico;  in  both  cases,  Rome  and 
Romish  emissaries  dictate  the  fundamental  laws.  Shall 
they  do  the  same  here? 

If  it  be  possible  they  will  effect  it.  Their  religious 
doctrines  and  practices  are  peculiar  and  constitute  a 
system  which  they  assert  to  be  different  from  every  other 
in  so  high  a  degree,  that  theirs  is  indispensable  to  salva- 


ROMANISM POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS.  29 

tion;  and  which  all  else,  whether  Christian,  Jew,  Ma- 
hometan, pagan  or  atheist,  pronounce  to  be  both  false 
and  dangerous.  To  establish  the  universal  and  exclu- 
sive sway  of  this  system,  is  their  avowed,  sworn,  concert- 
ed, ceaseless  object.  In  pursuing  this  object,  every  tie 
of  nature,  every  principle  of  virtue,  every  dictate  of  reason, 
every  command  of  God  has  been  in  succession,  and  still 
is  treated  as  altogether  of  secondary  importance.  As  the 
means  of  success — they  have  as  they  boast,  two  hun- 
dred millions  of  the  human  race, — the  most  stupendous 
csiastical  organization,  the  absolute  control  over  the 
minds,  bodies,  and  goods  of  their  followers;  the  support 
and  aid  of  many  kings  and  states;  the  certain  promise  of 
God,  and  the  abiding  presence  of  his  vicar  amongst  the 
confiding  hosts.  As  the  reward  of  their  success,  they 
look  for  universal  indulgence,  unlimited  power,  absolute 
supremacy  on  earth,  and  endless  glory  in  heaven!  What 
a  mixture  of  power  and  enthusiasm,  and  passion,  and 
gigantic  superstition!     What  a  force — what  a  prize! 

On  the  other  hand  their  spirit  is  adverse  to  the  spirit 
of  the  age;  their  system  is  contrary  to  the  common  sense 
of  men;  their  tyranny  is  odious  to  every  impulse  of  na- 
ture ;  every  motive  that  stops  on  this  side  the  grave  im- 
pels their  own  people,  every  one — every  moment  to  for- 
sake them;  and  every  motive  that  looks  into  that  dark  fu- 
ture beyond  death,  impels  every  being  unsubdued  to 
their  superstition,  to  release  the  world  from  their  degra- 
ding chains.  With  us,  are  freedom,  light,  the  whole  force 
of  movement,  the  power  of  knowledge,  and  the  consola- 
tions of  eternal  hope!  God  and  the  right  are  ours; — and 
we  already  see  the  sure  approach  of  that  blessed  day,  when 
this  "synagogue  of  satan"  will  be  razed,  and  the  "mo- 
ther of  harlots"  who  has  ruled  in  it  will  be  "fallen;" 
and  all  the  "kings  of  the  earth"  whom  she  has  made 
"drunk  with  the  wine  of  her  fornication"  will  cast  her 
off  forever;  and  all  the  saints  of  God,  whose  blood  has 
been  so  long  "found  in  her,"  will  unite  in  one  solemn 
thanksgiving  to  him  who  hath  overcome  her  "by  the 
spirit  of  his  mouth,"  and  delivered  them  and  the  world 
from  her  hands,  like  a  bird  escaped  out  of  the  fowler's 


snare! 


3' 


30  ROMANISM POLITICAL  AND    RELIGIJl  S. 

All  that  is  worth  contending  for  upon  earth,  is  direct- 
ly staked  on  this  contest.  It  must  be  vehement;  it  may 
be  protracted.  It  is  joined  already;  it  can  end  only  in 
the  perfect  triumph  of  one  or  the  other  interest.  As  a 
religious  question,  the  great  bodypf  the  most  active,  en- 
lightened, and  devoted  servants  of  God  all  over  the  world, 
are  already  engaged  in  its  investigation,  or  have  before 
this  made  themselves  acquainted  with  it.  As  a  political 
question,  every  nation  having  or  desiring  freedom,  con- 
templates it  with  profound  attention.  Mexico  ;md  Guate- 
mala in  South  America  ;  France,  Spain,  Portugal,  Greece, 
and  England,  in  Europe;  Canada,  New  England,  N< 
'  York,  Maryland,  Pensylvania,  in  North  America;  are  at 
this  moment  agitated  with  this  overwhelming  discussion. 
Lord  John  Russel,  lost  his  election  in  one  of  the  most 
enlightened  counties  in  England,  where  his  family  influ- 
ence had  long  been  supreme  and  his  own  popularity  irre- 
sistible, by  being  suspected  of  throwing  the  patronage  of 
the  Irish  government  into  the  hands  of  O'Connell.  At 
this  moment  in  the  great  state  of  Pennsylvania,  this 
controversy  is  about  to  decide  in  part,  all  her  elections ; 
and  the  indications  are  not  obscure,  that  it  must  enter 
largely  into  others  still  more  important. 

Away  then  writh  all  fear  and  all  indifference!  They 
who  dread  to  meet  this  question,  are  in  effect  subdued  al- 
ready. They  who  are  indifferent  to  it,  are  either  pro- 
foundly ignorant,  or  criminally  remiss  concerning  the 
most  stupendous  and  induring  interests  of  man.  Thev 
who  fancy  themselves  superior  to  it, — should  remember 
that  Roman  proconsul  who  pronounced  the  Christian 
system,  even  wdien  Paul  was  before  him,  to  be  unworthy 
pf  his  august  consideration,  as  being  merely  a  question  of 
names  and  words;  or  that  savage  chief  who,  naked  and 
illiterate  in  his  distant  and  unknown  village,  demanded  of 
a  traveller  who  chanced  to  find  his  hut, — what  Europe 
thought  of  him?  The  cold  skepticism  of  the  learned, 
no  less  than  the  ludicrous  s<  lf-complacericy  of  the  unen- 
lightened barbarian,  sprung  from  a  vanity,  alike  ignorant 
and  childish.  But  let  us  take  courage.  For  the  religion 
of  Jesus  M.ept  overthe  beautiful  regions  of  Achala,  even 
though  the  brother  of  Seneca  dispised  it;  and  the  wave 


THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.    31 

of  civilization  will  yet'pass   its  fertilizing  stream  over  the 
grave  oi*  that  nameless  garage,  who  did  not  know  what 

civilization  meant. 


NUMBER    V. 

THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

question  is  more  frequently  nor  more  triumphantly 
put  to  protestants,  by  ignorant  papists  than  this  :  Where 
nas  your  religion  before  Luther  ?  To  which  it  was  no 
bad  answer,  where  was  your  face  before  you  washed  it  ? 

But  the  truth  is,  that  there  are  several  methods  of 
showing  that  the  principles  now  professed  by  protestants 
as  a  body,  are  not  only  as  old  as  the  days  of  Christ,  but 
that  they  are  the  very  same  which  he  taught,  and  which 
he  came  into  the  world  to  make  known  for  the  salvation 
of  men. 

First,  Catholics  themselves  being  judges,  the  entire 
word  of  God  as  contained  in  the  scriptures  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  were  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Therefore,  he  who  holds  and  teaches  the  very  same  things 
which  the  Bible  holds  and  teaches,  must  hold  and  teach 
doctrines  as  old  as  the  days  of  our  Saviour;  and  which 
can  be  no  younger  than  the  day  when  the  canon  of  Scrip- 
ture was  completed.  Whenever  therefore,  a  protestant 
is  asked  how  old  his  religion  is,  he  has  only  to  prove  by 
some  portion  of  holy  writ,  the  disputed  doctrine;  and  then 
he  can  confidently  say,  it  is  as  old  as  the  times  of  our 
blessed  Saviour. 

Now,  whether  we  really  have  the  word  of  God  or  not. 
— and  whether  we  really  understand  that  which  we  have 
or  not,  are  questions  which  we  are  always  ready  to  dis- 
cuss with  infidels  and  papists; — and  the  affirmative  of 
which  can  be  demonstrated  past  the  possibility  of  a  rea- 
sonable doubt;  and  is  certain  beyond  all  dispute,  by  the 


32  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

indwelling  influence's  of  the  Word  and  Spirit,  in  every  re- 
generate heart.  Therefore,  let  the  heathen  rage,  and  the 
priests  imagine  vanity;  our  hope  is  sure. 

But  secondly,  besides  this  accurate  and  venerable  ev- 
idence, we  have  other  and  most  ample  proofs,  of  an  ex- 
ternal kind,  of"  the  long  continued,  uninterrupted,  and 
pure  existence  of  our  faith  on  earth.  The  fact  is,  if  the 
Roman  Catholic  church  had  never  existed  in  the  world, — 
we  would  have  had  abundantly  more  proof  of  the  pure 
succession  of  the  church  of  God  on  earth,  than  we  now 
have.  Because  the  chief  objects  of  her  existence  have 
been  to  banish  the  scriptures,  to  corrupt  the  church,  to 
degrade  the  human  race,  to  kill  the  saints  of  God,  and 
to  cover  the  earth  with  palpable  darkness.  How  vast 
and  how  glorious,  would  have  been  the  living  monu- 
ments to  God,  erected  in  whole  nations  which  that  church 
has  butchered — that  would  now  stand  forth  to  bless  our 
eyes,  if  she  had  never  existed?  Alas!  our  hearts  sink 
within  us  when  we  contemplate  the  evil  she  has  done — 
and  dwTell  on  the  probable  condition  of  the  human  race, 
at  this  moment,  but  for  the  dire  influence  of  the  Latin 
church.  Yet  the  very  breadth  of  her  errors  and  crimes 
affords  us  evidence  of  the  continued  existence  of  the 
truth,  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  those  who  resisted  her 
sway,  or  died  beneath  her  strokes.  The  African  churches 
of  the  early  ages, — the  various  Asiatic  churches,  espe- 
cially the  Nestorians, — the  Greek  church, — the  Culdees 
in  Ireland — the  Waldenses  in  the  south  of  Europe — the 
Moravians  and  Bohemians  in  the  east  of  Europe, — the 
writings  of  the  early  Greek  and  Latin  fathers, — the 
army  of  martyrs — have  handed  down  to  us  evidence  of 
the  constant  existence  of  those  who  did  not  bow  the  knee 
to  Baal.  Although  we  cannot  vouch  for  all  the  dogmas 
of  all  those  who  have  been  better  taught  than  Rome,  any 
more  than  all  the  protestant  sects  of  our  own  day,  would 
be  willing  to  subscribe  to  every  peculiarity  of  each;  yet 
as  now  we  ail  rejoice  to  acknowledge  that  each  of  the 
evangelical  denominations  holds  the  head, — against  the 
apostate  bishop  of  Rome  who  holds  in  unrighteousness 
what  little  truth  he  knows; — so  also  it  must  fill  our  hearts 
with  unfeigned  joy  to  receive  new  and  dear  evidences, 


THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  33 

that  the  true  followers  of  our  Master  through  the  long 
course  of  ages,  have  held  essentially  the  very  same  vi<  \\- 
of  divine  truth  which  we  now  call  Protestantism,  and 
that  the  same  faith  which  they  died  for,  is  that  which  we 
are  comforted  in  of  God,  to-day. 

We  ask  attention,  at  present,  to  a  few  facts  in  regard  to 
one  of  those  early  and  persecuted  sects,  whose  blood  was 
amongst  the  precious  seed  of  the  church  of  Christ. 

The  Vaudois  were  found  at  a  very  early  day  in  Langue- 
doc,  from  the  city  of  Albi  in  which  department  they 
were  said  by  some  to  be  called  Albigenses;  while  others 
derive  their  names  from  Peter  Waldo,  a  merchant  of  Lyons 
in  the  south  of  France.  It  is  certain  that  they  gave  great 
uneasiness  to  Rome,  many  centuries  ago.  For  as  early 
as  the  year  1179,  Alexander  III.  after  eighteen  years 
of  bloodshed  in  contests  with  half  of  Europe,  about  his 
right  to  be  pope,  which  was  contested  successively  by 
Victor  IV.,  Paschal  III.,  and  Calixtus  III.; — found 
time  to  call  a  great  council  in  the  Lateran,  and  condemn 
and  excommunicate  the  Vaudois.  How  natural !  that 
when  the  opposing  tyrants  agreed,  they  should  celebrate 
their  orgies,  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  most  excellent  of 
mankind  !  How  appropriate !  that  the  very  council  which 
settled  the  details  of  the  proper  mode  of  investing  writh 
all  the  powers  of  earth  and  heaven,  him  who  in  God's 
temple,  exalts  himself  above  God  himself;  should  signal- 
ize the  event  by  an  edict  for  the  extirpation  of  all  the 
real  followers  of  God,  then  known  to  them  throughout 
Europe  !  The  council  of  Lateran  settled  the  papal  dis- 
putes, adjusted  all  the  rules  for  future  elections,  and  cursed 
the  fairest  portion  of  the  earth  ! 

But  who  were  these  Vaudois^  We  answer  that  ques- 
tion by  referring  the  reader  to  any  church  history  in  his 
reach,  but  especially  to  two  little  volumes  in  common 
use  ;  we  allude  to  Joneses  History  of  the  Waldenses;  and 
the  History  of  the  Crusades  against  the  Albigenses,  taken 
out  of  Sismondi's  great  History  of  France.  At  present, 
we  wish  to  show  what  these  Vaudois  wTere.  In  doing 
this,  we  will  cite  only  Roman  Catholic  authority. 

And  first,  a  Dominican  named  Reiner  who  by  his 
own  confession  had  been  one  of  the  heresiarchs,  as  he 


34  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

terms  it,  that  is  a  chief  person  among  the  Vaudois,  whom 
he,  after  his  apostacy,  denounced  and  wrote  a  book 
against.  Of  all  sects  he  pronounces  this,  which  he  also 
calls  Leonists,  to  be  the  most  dangerous  ;  and  that  for 
these  reasons.  First,  because  they  arc  the  most  ancient 
of  all,  having  existed  as  some  suppose,  from  the  time  of 
Silvester,  or  as  others  say,  from  the  time  of  the  apostles. 
Secondly;  they  are  the  most  widely  diffused,  there  being 
hardly  any  country  into  which  they  have  not  penetrated. 
Thirdly,  because  while  all  other  sects  produce  horror  by 
their  execrable  blasphemies  against  God,  this  on  the 
contrary,  has  a  great  appearance  of  piety ;  for  they  live 
justly  towards  men,  and  they  believe  nothing  concerning 
God  which -is  not  good;  but  they  blaspheme  against  the 
Roman  church,  and  against  the  clergy,  by  which  means 
they  attract  crowds  of  people.  He  then  proceeds  to  reduce 
their  sentiments  into  three  classes:  1.  Blasphemies  against 
the  Roman  church,  her  statutes,  and  her  clergy:  2.  Errors 
touching  the  sacraments  and  the  saints:  3.  Their  horri- 
ble detestation  of  all  the  excellent  and  approved  customs 
of  the  church.  Whereupon  he  enters  into  along  detail 
unde*  each  class,  not  pretending  to  charge  them  with  any 
error  except  their  total  indifference  or  decided  oppo- 
position  to  all  the  peculiarities  of  Rome.  (See  Biblioth 
Pat.  torn.  iv.  part  ii.  page  749) 

These  were  pretty  good  protestants,— -if  their  apostate 
brother  is  worthy  of  credit.  But  we  wrill  cite  another 
witness  who  must  be  perfectly  unexceptionable,  to  all 
Catholics  at  least.  This  is  no  less  a  personage  than 
JEneas  Sylvius,  one  of  the  most  accomplished  scholars 
and  elegant  writers  of  his  day;  who  was  about  the  year 
1458,  elected  pope,  under  the  name  of  Pius  II.  We 
have  then  the  advantage  of  infallible  authority,  as  to  the 
fact  of  the  real  opinions  of  the  Vaudois.  The  dogmas 
of  this  pestiferous  faction,  says  he,  which  has  been  so 
long  condemned  (viz:  since  the  Lateran  council  in  1179) 
are  as  follows: 

1.  The  pope  of  Rome  is  no  more  than  any  other 
bishop. 

2.  There  is  no  difference  amongst  priests  (clergy)  ; 
they  ought  to  be  distinguished  only  by  excellence  of  life, 
not  by  dignity  of  office. 


THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  35 

3.  As  soon  as  the  soul  leaves  the  body,  it  is  immedi- 
ately conveyed  to  eternal  peace  or  pain. 

4.  There  is  no  purgatory. 

5.  It  is  useless  to  pray  for  the  dead, — a  practice  in- 
vented by  the  priests  through  avarice. 

6.  Images  of  God  or  the    saints  ought  not  to  be  used. 

7.  It  is  mere  mockery  to  use  blessed  water,  and  boughs 
of  trees.  • 

8.  The  orders  of  mendicant  monks,  are  inventions  of 
the  devil. 

9.  Priests  should  be  content  with  poverty,  and  volun- 
tary contributions  for  their  support. 

10.  Every  human  being  has  a  right  to  proclaim  the 
truths  of  the  gospel. 

11.  It  is  not  lawful  to  commit  sin  to  avoid  the  great- 
est evil. 

1*2.  All  ecclesiastical  persons  who  commit  mortal  sin, 
lose  their  dignity  and  are  not  to  be  obeyed. 

13.  Neither  confirmation  given  by  bishops  with  chrism, 
nor  extreme  unction,  is  to  be  considered  a  sacrament, 

14.  Auricular  confession  is  contemptible,  it  is  enough 
to  confess  sins  to  God. 

15.  Baptism  is  to  be  administered  with  pure  water, 
without  any  mixture  of  oil. 

16.  The  use  of  consecrated  burial  grounds  was  intro- 
duced for  the  sake  of  gain,  it  being  immaterial  in  wThat 
ground  the  body  is  buried. 

17.  The  earth  is  the  temple  of  God. 

18.  Hence  they  who  found  churches,  monasteries,  and 
oratories,  err  in  supposing  that  God's  majesty  is  limited, 
or  that  he  is  more  propitious  in  one  place  than  another. 

19.  The  sacerdotal  vestments,  the  ornaments  of  altars, 
the  robes,  the  corporals,  the  chalices,  the  patines,  and 
other  utensils  of  this  kind  are  all  useless. 

20.  It  is  immaterial  at  what  time  or  place  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  supper  is  administered ;  it  is  only  important 
to  repeat  the  words  of  institution  and  distribute  the  ele- 
ments to  those  who  desire  it.* 


*Sacerdotem,  quocunque  loco,  quocunque  tempore,  sacrum  Christi 
corpus  conficere  posse,  petentibusque,  nrinistrare  sufficere,  si  verba  sacra- 
znentalia  tandum  dicat. 


36  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH. 

21.  It  is  useless  to  implore  the  intercession  of  the 
sainl  !  who  reign  in  heaven,  since  they  are  unable  to  do 
us  any  good. 

22.  To  chant  canonical  hours  is  time  lost. 

2:j.  The  sabbath  is  the  only  day  on  which  it  is  neces- 
sary to  abstain  from  labour. 

24.  Saints  days  ought  to  be  entirely  rejected. 

25.  There  is  no  merit  in  observing  the  fasts  establish- 
ed by  the  church. —  (See  JEneas  Sylvius  Hist.  Bohem. 
chap.  xxxv.  p.  m.  68.) 

There  are  very  few  of  these  twenty-five  heresies  de- 
nounced as  pestiferous,  by  "  our  soverign  lord  pope 
Pius  II."  nearly  four  hundred  years  ago,  which  every 
protestant  in  the  world  does  not  hold  now.  But  a  gen- 
eral council  met  at  Rome  nearly  three  hundred  years  be- 
fore that,  had  under  the  eye,  and  by  the  direction  of  "  the 
sovereign  pontiff  Alexander  III."  pronounced  these  opin- 
ions to  be  damnable  heresies,  the  people  who  held  them 
to  be  accursed  of  God,  all  their  abettors  to  be  excommu- 
nicated, their  lands  forfeited,  their  children  bastards,  their 
country  a  prey  for  the  first  that  w^ould  take  and  waste  it 
with  fire  and  sword,  and  every  prince  and  state  accursed 
that  would  not  unite  to  execute  this  decree,  and  every 
soldier  made  certain  of  heaven  that  would  lend  his  aid  in 
enforcing  it.  Will  the  papists  of  our  times  say  this  is 
not  binding  on  them  ?  Then  what  becomes  of  the  infal- 
libility of  the  pope ;  the  authority  of  general  councils ; 
the  promise  of  Christ  to  guide  them  all,  as  they  say  ?  The 
council  of  Lateran  decided  by  the  indwelling  aid  and  au- 
thority of  the  Holy  Spirit;  therefore,  its  decisions  ought 
to  be  as  binding  as  the  word  of  God  ;  and  so  papists  be- 
lieve, or  ought  to  believe,  according  to  their  own  princi- 
ples. As  to  any  pretence  of  the  ignorance  of  those  ages, 
and  of  the  men  wTho  did  these  things  ;  we  humbly  con- 
ceive, that  JEneas  Sylvius,  from  whom  wre  quote,  was  as 


The  reader  will  perceive  at  once,  that  the  Pope  whose  statements  wc 
are  quoting,  gives  such  a  turn  to  the  expression,  as  to  put  his  own  words 
into  the  mouths  of  the  Vaudois.  This  is  not  the  only  instance  in  this 
catalogue.  In  such  cases,  we  give  the  obvious  meaning  of  the  here- 
tics. 


THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH.  37 

much  superior  in  talents  to  bishop  England,  and  in  at- 
tainments to  archbishop  Whitefield,  (except  their  judg- 
ment of  liquors,  by  dealing  in  which  the  hitter  made  his 
fortune,)  as  he  was  above  them  both  in  official  rank. 
This  is  not  the  spirit  of  any  age,  nor  any  condition  of  ig- 
norance. It  is  the  spirit  of  a  false,  turbulent,  bloody 
superstition,  which  is  alike  adapted  to  every  rank  and 
condition  of  sin.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
apostolic  church,  which  God  in  his  holy  word  has  again 
and  again  cursed  as  the  fountain  of  all  evil  to  his  owyat 
pure  and  persecuted  church;  and  whose  total  overthrew 
is  indispensable  to  the  final  triumph  of  peace  on  earth, 
and  the  permanent  existence  of  good  will  amongst  men. 

Through  the  testimony  then  of  these  popish  witnesses, 
we  carry  back  the  faith  and  worship  of  Protestants  six 
hundred  and  eighty  years  at  one  step.  At  that  high  era, 
we  find  our  strength  so  great  as  to  demand  a  crusade 
against  our  people  ;  our  faith  so  pure  as  to  be  nearly  as 
we  now  hold  it,  even  when  detailed  by  our  enemies  ; 
so  ancient  as  to  be  admitted  of  apostolical  origin  ;  so  dif- 
fused as  to  spread  in  every  land  ;  so  reasonable  as  to 
commend  itself  to  all  men  ;  so  humble  as  to  be  like  piety ! 

Here  then,  is  a  small  account  of  ourselves,  extending  fif- 
teen centuries  before  Luther. 

But  where  was  the  Catholic  church  before  Luther  ? 
That  is  a  question  we  should  like  to  see  answered. 
Where  is  it  since  Luther  ?  That  is  another  question  we 
want  light  on. 

As  to  the  Scriptures,  very  few  had  them  before  Luther. 
He  was  a  learned  and  rather  distinguished  man,  before 
he  had  ever  seen  the  complete  word  of  God.  Most  of 
the  monks,  nearly  all  the  secular  clergy  for  centuries  be- 
fore Luther,  had  no  Bibles  ;  they  were  too  corrupt  to  love 
them,  if  they  had  had  them  ;  and  they  were  too  ignorant 
to  read  them,  if  they  had  desired  it  ever  so  much.  The 
council  of  Trent  made  the  Catholic  Bible ;  that  church 
had  no  standard  Bible  before.  That  council,  after  Lu- 
ther,  fixed  up  a  Bible  for  papists,  and  fixed  it  wrong  as 
to  its  matter,  wrong  as  to  its  form,  and  wrong  as  to  its 
use ! 


3S  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  FAITH 

What  was  the  creed  of  the  Roman  church  before  Lu- 
ther? Their  present  creed  was  concocted  by  the  council 
of  Trent,  and  Pius  IV.  Between  them,  they  added  four- 
teen articles  to  the  creed,  neither  of  whieh  was  in  any 
creed  before,  and  every  one  of  whieh  was  false,  and  near- 
ly every  one  absurd,  and  most  of  the  fourteen  embracing 
fundamental  heresy  ! 

Here  is  a  pretty  pretence  to  antiquity,  leaving  the  truth 
of  her  tenets  totally  out  of  the  question.  The  protestant 
faith  is  the  faitli  taught  in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scrip- 
tures, (which  are  well  translated  in  the  common  English 
version  of  the  Bible ,)  which  Scriptures  are  as  old  as  the 
times  between  John  and  Moses  at  least.  The  poor  pap- 
ists have  no  Bible,  but  only  a  corrupt  and  redundant 
Latin  translation  of  the  Septuagint;  to  which  the  council 
of  Trent  met  the  other  day,  as  we  may  say,  added  sixteen 
books  never  inspired  by  God,  unnumbered  traditions  nevei 
yet  defined,  several  cart  loads  of  the  writings  of  the  fa- 
thers who  contradict  each  other  on  a  thousand  subjects, 
and  the  unknown  future  decisions  of  unborn  popes  and 
uncalled  councils.  This  they  call  their  rule  of  faith  ;  and 
by  w^ay  of  making  the  matter  as  ridiculous  as  possible., 
say  that  Christ  established  it ! 

The  protestant  symbol  of  faith,  commonly  called  the 
apostle's  creed,  is  surely  of  very  early  origin,  perhaps  the 
result  of  the  joint  labors  of  the  apostles  themselves.  And 
so  the  church  of  Rome  admits.  But  here,  a  little  while 
back,  a  few  ignorant  bishops,  corrupt  scholars  and  am- 
bitious monks,  met  at  a  little  place  in  one  corner  of  Eu- 
rope; and  after  deliberating  eighteen  years  in  the  midst 
of  all  sorts  of  intrigues,  debaucheries  and  scandals,  caused 
fourteen  articles  to  be  added  to  our  ancient  protestant 
apostolical  creed,  by  a  lewd  fellow  of  the  baser  sort,  called 
John  Angelo  de  Medici,  who  in  1560  changed  his  name  te 
Pius  IV.,  and  pretended  himself  to  be  a  vice-Christ  I  And 
still  these  poor  people,  who  have  neither  pure  Bible  nor 
true  creed  of  any  age ;  and  whose  false  creed  and  cor- 
rupt rule  of  faith,  are  both  created  as  to  any  potential  va- 
lidity since  Luther,  prate  about  the  antiquity  of  thetf 
church  f 


WORSHIP  IN  AN   UNKNOWN  TONGUE,  &C  39 

For  our  part,  we  consider  a  young  virtue  better  than  a 
very  old  vice ;  a  truth  but  yesterday  discovered,  better 
than  a  lie  as  old  as  creation.     And  therefcfre  we  stake 

but  a  very  small  part  of  the  real  claims  <>!'  the  protestant 
faith  upon  its  age.  It  is  its  truth,  its  excellence,  its 
heavenly  origin  and  tendency  that  make  us  love  it.  That 
Noah  knew  my  Redeemer,  was  his  blessedness  ;  but  that 
I  know  him  is  just  as  sure,  and  just  as  precious  to  my 
soul,  let  Noah's  fate  be  what  it  might.  The  truth  how- 
ever is,  that  the  world  has  had  but  one  true  Lord,  the 
universal  church  in  heaven  and  earth  but  one  evangelical 
faith,  the  soul  of  man  but  one  baptism  of  fire  and  the 
Holy  Ghost.  And  it  is  alike  good  and  grateful,  to  be- 
hold in  all  the  past,  the  clear  evidences  of  this  sacred  and 
consoling  truth. 


NUMBER   VI. 

WORSHIP  IN    AN    UNKNOWN  TONGUE:   GREGORY    VII.    AND 
THE    BOHEMIAN    CHURCHES, 

The  Bohemian  church  was  originally  Greek.  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  were  converted  to  Christianity  through  the 
instrumentality  of  Methodius,  and  Cyril  Constantine 
surnamed  the  philosopher,  who  were  Greek  monks  of 
the  order  of  St.  Basil,  and  who  were  sent  out  by  the  em- 
press Theodora  and  her  son  Michel, — at  the  solicita- 
tion of  Suantopulc  the  elder  king  of  Moravia;  who  see- 
ing the  labours  of  these  monks  amongst  the  Bulgarians, 
Mysians  and  other  neighboring  states,  desired  the  ad- 
vantages of  Christianity  for  his  own  people.  This  hap- 
pened about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century. 

At  a  very  early  period,  after  these  nations  had  nominal- 
ly embraced  Christianity,  the  bishops  of  Rome  commen- 
ced their  attempts  to  seduce  all  who  spoke  the  Sclavoni- 
an  language  into  the  same  condition,  which  early  in  the 


40  WORSHIP    IN    AN    UNKNOWN  TONGUE! 

thirteenth  century  they  enforced  by  fire  and  sword  upon 
those  states  speaking  the  Romanesque  languages  in  the 
south  of  Europe.  The  kingdom  of  Aragon,  the  entire 
southern  quarter  of  France,  Piedmont,  &c. — standing 
like  a  garden  of  the  Lord  in  the  midst  of  surrounding 
darkness,  were/utterly  sacked  and  emptied,  like  an  unclean 
garment,  by  the  brutal  crusaders,  at  the  call  of  the  popes 
of  Rome,  just  about  six  centuries  ago,  for  being  in  effect 
Protestants.  The  records  of  the  world  scarcely  exhibit 
a  more  heart  stirring  detail,  than  that  which  Sismondi  has 
given  in  a  few  chapters  of  his  great  History  of  France, 
of  this  catastrophe.  A  scene  nearly  similar  was  enact- 
ed on  the  western  frontier  of  Europe  during  the  fifteenth 
century,  embracing  the  period  commencing  with  the 
council  of  Constance,  including  the  intervening  war  in 
Germany  for  the  extirpation  of  the  religion  of  God  as 
held  and  taught  by  the  followers  of  Hus,  and  terminat- 
ing perhaps  with  the  council  of  Basle.  We  may  justly 
designate  those  periods  so  little  known,  and  yet  so  preg- 
nant with  truth  and  interest,  as  the  suppression  of  the  first 
and  second  reformation;  the  attempt  of  Luther,  being  in 
fact,  the  third  reformation. 

The  Bohemians  and  their  neighbours  were  not  at  once 
reduced  to  the  Roman  yoke.  Or  rather  adhering  most 
pertinaciously  to  the  doctrines  and  rites  of  the  Greek 
church,  always  a  purer  church  than  the  Latin,  and  then 
purer  than  now, — it  was  not  until  after  six  hundred  years 
of  resistance  on  their  part,  often  of  the  most  heroic 
kind,  and  the  like  duration  of  effort  on  the  part  of  Rome, 
marked  always  by  falsehood  and  treachery,  and  often  by 
cruelty  and  blood;  that  these  brave  and  simple  people 
were  crushed  into  slavery,  to  the  power  and  superstition 
of  Rome. 

The  nature  of  those  dogmas  and  pretensions  of  Rome 
which  first  excited  the  opposition  of  the  Bohemians,  Mo- 
ravians, &c.  may  be  conceived  in  some  degree,  from  the 
following  expressions  of  Photius,  patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople. "The  joy  which  we  had  conceived,  on  the 
"conversion  of  the  Bulgarians,  is  changed  into  sorrow 
uand  confusion;  for  scarcely  have  two  years  elapsed  since 
"this  nation  embraced  pure  Christianity,  before  these  im- 


GREGORY  VII.  AND  THE   BOHEMIAN  CHURCHES.       -11 

"pious  and  execrable  men  comi  land  of  dark- 

"ness,  (for  they  are  from  the  w<  ilegiously  ra\ 

"the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.?'     Then  foil 

tionofthed^ :■_  I  practices  which  the  Latin  bid] 

wished  to  introduce  into  J]  on  Saturu 

"stuffing   themselves  with  milk   and  cheese   during  the 

"first  week  of  lent,  forbidding  the  p  m  marrying^ 

"confirming  anew  those  who   had  been  already  c 
"by  the  Greek  pri>  r  the  pretext  that  the  p. 

iico  incd  exclusively  to  bishops^  finally 

"denying  that  the  Spirit  proceeded  from  the  Father  al 
iibut  ascerting  that  it  proceeded  from  t) 

"So/i."     As   yet  these  people  had  not  been  denied 
cup  in  the  sacrament,  nor  the  use  of  their  own  language 
in   public  worship.      According  to  the  Jesuit  Balbin, 
pope  John  XIV.  in   the  year  976  confirmed  Dithrnar  to 
be  bishop  of  Prague,  upon  the  condition  that  the  Latin 

guage  alone  should  be  used  in  public  worship.  Here- 
upon the  Bohemians  sent  a  deputation  to  Rome;  and  ob- 
tained from  Gregory  V.  in  977,  a  repeal  of  this  condi- 
tion, and  the  restoration  of  the  Greek  rites,  and  of  course, 
the  use  of  the  vernacular  language.  For  half  a  century 
more,  the  contest  continued  with  various  fluctuations, — 
between  the  two  parties.  Gradually,  the  nobility  attach- 
ed themselves  to  the  party  of  Rome,  but  still  the  common 
people  adhered  to  their  ancient  faith  and  system  of  wor- 
ship: and  the  popes  of  Rome  some  times  used  guile 
and  connived  at  their  departure  from  the  Latin  faith,  some 
times  used  severity  and  fierce  dictation.  Amongst  the 
most  serious  causes  of  quarrel,  as  enumerated  by  Adelbert 
bishop  of  Prague,  in  981,  were  that  the  Christians  of 
Bohemia,  would  not  observe  the  holy  days  appointed  by 
the  popes,— they  would  get  married  without  the  priests, 
— they  would  not  bun*  their  dead  exclusively  in  the  church- 

:he  ecclesiastics  would  get  married,  &,c.  But  amongst 
all  difficulties,  perhaps  the  greatest  was  the  tenacity  with 
which  the  Bohemians  clung  to  the  use  of  their  own  lan- 
guage (the  Sclavonian)  in  public  worship. 

Pope  Alexander  II.    had  prohibited  its  use;  but  in 
vain.     To  bring  the  matter  to  a  better  understanding, 
about  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  Wratislaus,  duke 
4* 


42  WORSHIP    IN    AN    UNKNOWN  TONGUE-! 

of  Bohemia,  scut  an  embassy  to  Gregory  VII.  to  de- 
mandthe  enniirmation  of  this  privilege  (the  use  of  their 
own  language  in  the  worship  of  God,)  which  some  of 
his  predecessors)  had  granted  them.  Gregorv  refused. 
The  reasons  why  he  did  so  are  found  below,  and  it  was 
to  lay  them  before  our  readers  that  we  have  entered  into 
this  brief  statement,  the  main  parts  of  which  are  drawn 
from  Histoire  dc  la  guerre  de$  Bursites,  it  du  Concilc  de 
Basle  par  Jacques  Lenfaxt.  From  the  10th  page 
of  vol.  1  of  that  work,  we  have  translated  the  following 
extraordinary  brief  of  the  pope. — Lenfanf  cites  ample 
and  unexceptionable  authorities  for  the  genuineness  of 
this  brief,  and  for  all  the  preceding  statements;  to  him  we 
refer  the  reader. 

"Gregory,  bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God, 
"to  Wratislas  duke  of  Bohemia,  health  and  the  apos- 
"tolic  benediction.  Amongst  other  demands  which  your 
"highness  has  made  of  us  in  your  letters,  is  the  requisi- 
tion that  we  will  confirm  to  you  the  custom  of  using  the 
"Sclavonian  language,  in  the  sacred  worship.  Know 
"then,  our  dearest  son,  that  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  ac- 
"quiesce  in  your  demand.  For  in  our  frequent  mcdita- 
"tions  upon  the  holy  Scriptures,  we  have  discovered  that  it 
uhas  been,  and  still  is  pleasing  to  Almighty  God,  that  his  sa- 
acred  worship  should  be  performed  inanunknown  language, 
"in  order  that  the  ichole  world,  and  especially  the  most 
u  simple  may  not  be  able  to  wider  stand  it.  In  truth,  if  all 
"chaunted  publicly  in  a  known  language,  the  service 
"wTould  soon  excite  contempt  and  disgust.  Or  it  would 
"happen  that  the  common  people,  by  repeating  so  often 
"that  which  they  could  not  comprehend,  would  fall  into 
"many  great  errors,  from  wrhich  it  would  be  difficult  to 
"withdraw  the  heart  of  man.  Nor  is  it  proper  to  allege 
"here — that  this  indulgence  has  been  sometimes  granted 
"to  the  most  ignorant, — especially,  wThen  they  were  re- 
cently converted  ;  as  was  done  also  in  the  primitive 
"church,  regard  being  had  to  the  simplicity  and  sound- 
"ness  in  the  faith  of  the  people  generally.  For  as  it  has 
"been  proven,  that  from  them  have  arisen  much  evil  and 
"many  heresies:  it  is  no  longer  advisable,  under  the  pre- 
sent established,  and  stable  Christian  order,  to  connive 


GREGORY  VII.  AND  THE  BOHEMIAN  CHURCHES.       43 

at  it.     We  cannot,  therefore,  comply   with  what  your 
"people  have   unreasonably  demanded: — and* we  forbid 

"it,  by  the  authority  of  God  and  the  blessed  St.   Peter, 
"exhorting  yon  for  the  glory  of  Almighty  Pod,  to  resist, 
"by  every  method  this  fruitless  temerity. 
"Rome,  the  year  1079." 

This  Greory  VII,  who  wrote  the  above  brief,  was 
the  famous  Hildebr<md3  a  Tuscan  of  mean  birth,  and  once 
a  monk  in  the  monastery  of  Clugny — who,  by  his  abilties 
and  crimes  raised  himself  to  be  cardinal  and  pope.  Du- 
ring the  reign  of  his  immediate  predecessor,  Alexander 
II.  and  afterwards  whilst  pope  himself,  embracing  in 
both  periods  a  space  of  twenty-four  years,  from  1061  to 
1085,  he  kept  the  whole  of  Europe,  and  the  whole  church 
in  perpetual  commotion.  Insolent,  imperious,  unprinci- 
pled, and  yet  bold,  steady,  and  clear  headed;  he  was  sub- 
ject to  great  reverses,  both  while  he  lived,  and  since  his 
death.  At  one  time  an  obscure  labourer,  then  master  of  the 
world;  now  head  of  the  faithful,  then  solemnly  deposed 
by  councils,  and  declared  an  anti-pope.  Once  declared 
an  exile,  and  once  shut  up  in  the  castle  of  St  Angelo 
by  the  emperor  Henry  IV. — and  yet  at  another  time,  re- 
ducing the  same  emperor  to  the  most  humiliating  penan- 
ces. Even  after  his  death,  in  his  own  besotted  s.eat,  he 
has  hardly  escaped  the  pains  of  hell,  if  his  enemies  are 
to  be  credited,  in  their  just  denunciations;  while  Paul  V. 
more  than  six  centuries  after  the  death  of  Gregory,  won 
by  his  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  papacy,  decreed 
to  his  memory,  as  to  that  of  a  saint,  the  honour  of  a  fes- 
tival, and  commanded  all  the  faithful  to  worship  him. 

Such  is  the  man,  and  such  the  decree,  and  such  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  he  wrote  it.  To  us  it  is  enpugh 
that  we  have  it  settled  in  it,  directly  or  incidentally,  and 
that  on  infallible  authority: 

1.  That  the  bishop  of  Rome,  has  a  right  to  command 
foreign  princes,  and  to  dictate  articles  of  religion  to 
foreign  states: 

2.  That  it  is  the  will  of  God  for  men  to  worship  him 
in  a  language  they  themselves  do  not  understand: 

3.  That  this  was  not  the  opinion  of  the  primitive  church, 
nor  always  that  of  the  church  of  Rome: 


44  THE    GENERAL    COUNCILS. 

4.  That  the  church  of  Rome  has  found  by  experience 
thai  what  she  considers  to  be  both  evils  and  heresies, 
spring  from  letting  people  understand  the  Romish  wor- 
ship : 

5.  That  the  greatest  of  these  evils,  and  the  most  to  be 
expected,  is  universal  contempt  and  disgust  for  the  Ro- 
mish worship  by  all  who  understand  it: 

6.  That  for  these  reasons,  Rome  haa  changed  her 
opinion,  and  now  resolves  that  God  does  not  Wlfch  men 
generally,  and  especially  ignorant  men,  to  understand  his 
worship: 

7.  That  it  is,  therefore,  now  contrary  to  plain  scripture 
and  the  true  faith,  for  any  people  to  use  their  own  lan- 
guage, or  any  other  that  they  understand  in  the  worship 
of  God: 

8.  That  no  one  can  argue  what  is  right,  from  what 
popes  have  done;  for  they  have  done  all  things,  and  of 
course  opposite  things: 

9.  That  the  real  ground  of  deciding  religious  truth,  and 
determining  personal  rights,  is  to  find  out  the  real  inter- 
ests for  the  time  being  of  the  papacy: 

10  That  the  pope  is  supreme  and  exclusive  in  deciding 
this;  that  he  decides  by  the  authority  of  Almighty  God 
and  St.  Peter;  and  that  God's  glory  requires  all  men,  in 
all  stations  in  every  country,  to  perform  all  that  the  pope 
orders,  and  to  resist  all  he  forbids,  and  to  use  all  sorts  of 
means  to  do  this  ! 


NUMBER    VII. 

THE  GENERAL  COUNCILS. WHrCH  ARE  THEY? WH-4T 

HAVE  THEY  DONE  ? 

R.  P.  Virus  Piciiler,  a  Jesuit,  and  a  doctor  both  of 
theology  and  the  canon  law,  is  the  author  of  one  of  the 


THE  GENERAL  corxriT.s.  lg 

standard  works  on  theology  in  the  Romish  church.  His 
book  is  called  Theologica  Polemic  \,  &C.,  and  the  copy 
we  have  was  published  at  Vienna  in  1749,  in  quarto, 

with  the  imprimatur  of  Fra  Paalo  Towwnaso  Ma&uelli, 
inquisitor  general  of  Venice,  countersigned  by  four  other 
worthies,  with  unpronounceable  Italian  names,  and  hor- 
rid abbreviations  of  still  more  ridiculous  titles.  Tl. 
all  certify  of  the  book  that  u  non  v'esser  cosa  alcuna  con- 
tra la  santa  fede  cattolica."  He  is  therefore  reliable  au- 
thority, to  prove  what  is  Catholicity.  We  translate  from 
pages  278 — 285  inclusive,  what  follows  upon  the  subjects 
of  general  councils  which  are  lawful ,  general  councils 
which  arc  unlawful,  and  general  councils  v:hich  are  partly 
lawful  and  partly  unlawful. 

I.   General  councils  which  were  lawful. 

1.  Nice,  which  was  held  at  the  city  of  Nice.  The 
council  of  Sardicense,  held  some  years  after  this,  was  an 
appendix  to  it. 

The  era  of  this  council  was  the  year  of  Christ  327; 
Sylvester  being  pope,  and  Constantine  the  Great  em- 
peror. 

There  were  present  at  it  318  fathers,  Hosius,  Vitus 
and  Vincentius  were  the  pope's  legates,  and  presided  at 
it.  Of  these,  only  the  first  wras  a  bishop,  the  other  two 
being  only  presbyters. 

This  council  condemned  the  heresy  of  Arius,  who  de- 
nied the  Divinity  of  Christ;  and  composed  the  Nicene 
creed. 

2.  Constantinople;  held  partly  at  Constantinople  in  the 
east,  partly  at  Rome  in  the  west. 

About  the  year  381,  Damasus  being  pope,  and  the 
elder  Theodosius  emperor. 

There  were  in  it  150  Catholic  fathers  and  36  Macedon- 
ians, or  Simi-Arians  The  pope  did  not  preside  either 
personally  or  by  legates,  yet  he  confirmed  it  as  to  faith. 

The  heresy  of  Macedonius,  who  denied  the  Divinity  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  was  condemned,  and  the  Nicene  creed 
confirmed  by  this  council. 

3.  Ephesinum ;  held  at  Ephesus,  the  metropolis  of 
Asia  Minor. 


46  THE    GENERAL  COUNCILS. 

About  the  year  430,  Celestine  being  pope,  and  Theo- 
dosius  the  younger  and  Valentriiien  J  IF.  emperors. 

Present  200  fathers  ;  Cyril,  archbishop  of  Alexandria, 
and  other  legates  of  the  pope  presiding. 

This  council  condemned  the  hi  rius,  who 

admitting  the  existence  of  two  persons  in  Christ,  declared 
the  blessed  virgin  to  be  the  mother  of  Christ  only  (Chris- 
tiparam,)  and  not  the  mother  of  God,  (I)eiparam,)  be- 
cause she  only  bore  the  human  person  of  Christ ;  against 
which  error,  the  words  "mother  of  God  pray  for  us,  fr  r." 
were  added  to  the  angelic  salutation. 

4.  Chalcedon;  so  called  from  the  city  of  Chalcedon  in 
Bythinia,  where  it  was  celebrated. 

About  the  year  451,  Leo  the  Great  being  pope,  and 
Marcian  emperor. 

Present  630  fathers;  the  legates  of  pope  Leo  presided, 
and  he  afterwards  confirmed  the  council,  but  only  as  it 
respects  matters  of  faith. 

It  condemned  the  heresy  of  Eutychitis  and  Dioscoris, 
who  admitted  the  existence  of  but  one  nature  in  Christ. 

5.  Constantinople  II.  About  the  year  553 ;  Yirgilius 
being  pope,  Justinian  emperor. 

Some  say  that  165,  others  that  255  fathers  were  pre- 
sent. The  pope  was  neither  present  nor  represented  by 
legates,  but  he  approved  it  by  an  epistle. 

This  council  condemned  the  heresy  of  Origen  and  the 
three  capitularies  of  the  bishops  Theodore,  Theodoret, 
and  Iba,  but  not  their  persons. 

6.  Constantinople  IIL  To  which  the  synod  of  Trull  ana, 
otherwise  called  Quini-Sexta,  was  an  appendix. 

About  680;  Agatho  being  pope,  and  Constantine  IV. 
emperor. 

Present  about  289  fathers.  Peter  and  George,  pres- 
byters, and  John,  a  deacon,  presided  as  legates  from  the 
pope. 

It  condemned  the  heresy  of  the  Monothelites,  who  as- 
serted Ilr.it  there  was  only  one  will  in  Christ. 

7.  Alec  II.  About  78J  ;  Adrian  being  pope,  and 
Constantine  reigning  in  the  empire  with  his  mother 
Irene. 

Present  350  fathers.  Peter  an  arch-presbyter,  and 
Peter  the  abbot,  presiding  as  the  pope's  legates. 


THE  GENERAL  COUNCILS.  47 

Condemned  the  heresy  of  the  Iconoclasts,  the  emperors 
Leo  the  Isaurian,  and  Constantine  Copronymus;  who 
despoiled  the  sacred  images  of  Christ  and  the  saints,  of 
all  honour. 

8.  Constantinople  IV.  About  the  year  SG9;  Adrian 
II.  being  pope,  and  Basil  emperor. 

There  were  102  fathers;  and  the  pontifical  legates  pre- 
sided. 

Photius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  who  had  intruded 
by  force,  was  rejected,  and  Ignatius  restored.  The 
Iconomacians  (or  destroyers  of  images)  were  again  con- 
demned. 

9.  Lateran  I:  So  called  from  the  Lateran  palace  at 
Rome. 

About  the  year  1122;  Calixtus  II.  being  pope,  and 
Henry  V.  emperor. 

More  than  300  fathers  attended;  the  pope  presiding  in 
person. 

Called  to  make  peace  between  the  church  and  the  em- 
pire,  and  to  promote  the  war  against  the  Saracens  for  the 
recovery  of  the  holy  land. 

10.  Lateran  II.  About  1139;  Innocent  II.  being  pope; 
under  the  emperor  Lothair  II.  or  Conrad  king  of  the  Ro- 
mans. 

About  1000  fathers;  the  pope  presiding  in  person. 

Condemned  the  anti-popes  Anacletus  and  Victor. — 
Passed  acts  concerning  the  right  of  clergy,  and  the  reform- 
ation of  morals. 

11.  Lateran  III.  About  1179:  Alexander  III.  being 
pope,  and  Frederic  I.  emperor. 

About  300  fathers;  the  pope  presiding  in  person. 

The  Cathari,  whom  some  call  Waldenses,and  Albigen- 
ses,  were  condemned  as  heretics.  Many  things  determin- 
ed concerning  the  election  of  the  pope,  and  the  reform- 
ation of  morals. 

12.  Lateran  IV.  In  the  year  1245:  Innocent  IV.  being 
pope,  and  Frederic  II.  emperor. 

There  were  present  about  400  bishops;  besides  about 
800  inferior  prelates,  the  pope  himself  presided. 

Condemned  the  heresies  of  the  Albigenses  and  the 
errors  of  the  abbot  Joachim.     Passed  acts  for  settling  the 


48  THE    GENERAL    COUNCILS. 

peace  of  Christendom,  and  for  recovering  the  holy  land. 

13.  Lugdunense.  1  (Lyons.)  So  called  from  the  city  of 
Lyons  in  France. 

In  the  year  1245:  Innocent  IV.  being  pope,  and  Frede- 
ric II.  emperor. 

There  were  140  fathers  present,  and  the  pope  presided 
in  person. 

They  excommunicated  and  deposed  the  Emperor  Frede- 
ric II.  called  Barbarossa,  as  a  rebel  against  the  pope:  and 
directed  an  expedition  into  Palestine. 

14.  Lugdunense  II.  (Lyons.]  The  year  1274:  Gregory 
X.  being  pope,  and  Rudolph  emperor. 

Almost  1000  fathers  present,of  whom  500  were  bishops, 
the  pope  again  personally  presiding. 

Condemned  the  heresy  of  the  Greeks,  who  say  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  does  not  proceed  from  the  Son,  but  from  the 
Father  alone.  A  union  was  made  with  the  Greeks,  whose 
emperor,  Michael  Paleologus  was  himself  present.  They 
united  in  an  act  for  the  recovery  of  Palestine. 

15.  Vienense.  (Vienne.)  So  called,  from  the  city  of 
Vienne,  in  France. 

Held  in  1311:  Clement  V.  being  pope;  and  Henry  VII. 
emperor.  This  pope  framed  the  constitutions  which  are 
called  in  the  canon  law,  Clementine. 

About  300  bishops  present,  the  pope  again  presiding. 

The  heresies  of  the  Beghards,  the  Berguines  and  the 
Fratricelli  condemned.  The  order  of  Templars,  (so 
called,  because  they  dwelt  near  the  temple  in  Jerusalem) 
was  suppressed.  And  a  new  decree  for  an  expedition 
into  the  holy  land. 

16.  Florence.  Held  at  Florence,  in  Italy,  not  having 
been  completed  at  Ferara. 

Held  in  1438,  not  having  been  completed  at  Ferrara: 
Eugene  IV.  being  pope  and  Albert  emperor. 

Subscribed  by  141  fathers.  Many  others,  having  de- 
parted beforehand.     The  pope  himself  presided. 

Against  the  errors  of  the  Greeks,  whose  emperor,  John 
Paleologus  was  present.  A  union  of  the  Greeks  and  Ar- 
minians,with  the  Latins  was  effected,  but  after  their  return 
to  Greece,  they  relapsed  into  their  former  errors. 

17.  Lateran  V.  Inchoate  in  151*2  under  pope  Julius  IL 


GENERAL    COUNCILS.  49 

Complete  in  1517,  under  Leo  X.     Maximilian  I.,  was 

emperor. 

Present  114  fathers;  the  pope  himself  presiding. 

Called  to  heal  the  schism  propagated  by  the  council 
of  Pisa.  The  sedition  of  Luther  prevented  the  expedi- 
tion against  the  Turks  which  it  ordered. 

18.  Trent.  (  Tridtntinum)  Commenced  at  Trent,  in 
Germany,  continued  at  Bononia,  and  finished  at  Trent. 

Inchoate  in  1545,  under  pope  Paul  III.  continued  un- 
der Julius  III.  Marcellus II.  andPaul  IV.  finished  under 
Pius  VI.  in  1563. — Charles  V.  and  Ferdinand  I.  were 
emperors. 

Subscribed  by  255  fathers.  Many  could  not  remain  till 
the  end  of  the  council,  which  lasted  18  years,  under  the 
presidency  of  various  pontifical  legates. 

The  Lutherans,  Sacramentarians,  and  other  sectaries 
were  condemned.  Morals  were  reformed,  especially 
amongst  the  clergy,  vj/io  were  exceedingly  corrupt.  In  no 
other  council  have  so  many  articles  of  faith  been  so  clear- 
ly elucidated,  or  strictness  of  morals  so  sedulously  re- 
established as  in  that  of  Trent. 

Such,  according  to  the  Jesuits  themselves,  are  the 
eighteen  general  councils,  which,  and  which  alone,  have 
in  all  things  spoken  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 
— decided  with  the  irrevocable  certainly  of  God's  judg- 
ment, all  matters  submitted  to  them; — and  whose  words 
and  actions  are,  and  to  the  end  of  time  will  be  as  per- 
fectly obligatory-  on  all  the  world,  as  if  Jesus  Christ 
our  divine  Lord,  had  personally  and  visibly  presided 
at  each  of  them,  and  publicly  and  unequivocally  ap- 
proved them  all.  Of  these  eighteen  councils,  we  are 
ready  to  prove,  whenever  archbishop  Eccleston  will  hear 
us,  that  at  least  twelve  have  either  spoken  lies  or  decreed 
sin.  The  reader  will  observe  that  the  third  established 
idolatry;  the  seventh  and  eighth,  wickedly  condemned 
those  who  would  not  worship  images;  the  ninth,  twelfth, 
thirteenth,  fourteenth,  fifteenth  and  seventeenth  decreed 
unjust  wars;  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  cursed  all  the  saints 
of  God  they  knew;  the  thirteenth  erected  the  power  of 
the  church  over  all  human  governments  and  put  the  feet 
of  the  pope  on  the  neck  of  the  human  race;  and  the 
5 


50  GENERAL    COUNCILS. 

eighteenth^  ripe  with  the  lull  grows  pollul  ntuiies, 

decreed  all  truth  into  endless  night  and  chaos,  and  the 
follies  and  crimes  oi'  all  pasl  agei  into  the  place  of  God's 
glorious   truth! 

We  have  taken  the  trouble  to  compare  the  foregoing 
statements  of  Pichler,  with  the  still  more  authoritative 
declarations  of  cardinal  Bcllannin ,  himself  a  Jesuit,  and 
perhaps  the  be8t  single  authority  as  a  writer  in  the  church 
of  Rome.  Those  who  have  opportunity  to  do  so,  will 
find  in  the  second  volume,  pages  3 — 10,  of  the  Paris 
edition  of  1608,  of  his  great  work  entitled,  Disputd- 
tiones  de  Cont rovers Us  Christiana  Fidei,  in  the  book 
De  Conciliis,  fyc.  and  chap.  v.  entitled,  Concilia  genera- 
lia  approbata,  all  the  material  statements  of  Pichler  con- 
firmed;— and  much  more  to  the  same  general  purport. 
And  this  is  perhaps  the  general  opinion  among  papists. 
Yet  even  these  are  by  no  means  uniform;  and  others  differ 
exceedingly  from  them,  and  from  each  other  on  the  sub- 
ject. Bishop  Beveridge  reckons  but  eight  general  councils 
in  all.  Dr.  Prideaux  allows  only  seven:  while  Bullinger 
will  admit  but  six.  It  is  papistical  authority  which  we 
are  now  gathering  howrever;  and  to  return  to  Pichler,  we 
find  that  besides  these  lawful  general  councils,  he  recounts 
no  less  than  fourteen  others;  half  of  which  he  pronounces 
reprobate,  although  general,  and  the  other  half  partly  le- 
gal and  partly  illegal.  Of  these  two  classes  the  first  is 
that  which  follows. 

2.   General  councils  which  icere  illegal. 

1.  Antioch.  Held  in  the  year  345:  Julius  I.  being 
pope,  and  Constantine  Arianus,  emperor. 

Attended  by  about  90  fathers. 

Unjustly  condemned  Athanasius;  and  opened  the  way 
for  an  attempted  overthrow  of  the  first  Nicene    council. 

2.  Mtdiolanense .  [Milan.]  In  the  year  354:  Liberius 
being  pope,  and  the  before  mentioned  Constantine  Ari- 
anus, emperor. 

About  300  fathers   present. 

They  indirectly  condemned  the  Catholic  faith;  (where- 
in is  not  stilted  either  In  Pichler  or  Bellarmin.  The 
latter  (vol.  '2.  hook  1,  chap. 6,  let.  d.)  refers  for  authority 
to  Rttfinus  lib.  10,  C.  2Q,  and  to  Socrates,  lib.  2,  c.  29.) 


GENERAL    COUNCILS.  51 

3,    Jlrimiyiense.    [Rimijii.]    Not   the   one  held  under 

pope  Liberius  in  379. 

This  was  held  in  373:  Danasus  being  pope,  and 
the  same  Coratantine  Arianus,  emperor. 

Present  about  600  fathers. 

The  word  Homoousios,    that    is    Consubstantial,  was 

stricken  from  the  creed;    partly  through  ignorance  of  its 
meaning,  partly  by  the  fraud  of  the  Arians. 
|     4.  Ephesus  II.    Which  is  justly  called  Latroeinium 
(robbery,)  for  every  thing  was  done  by  violence. 

Held  in  443:  Leo  being  pope,  and  Theodosius  the 
younger,  emperor. 

Present  about  128  fathers. 

They  absolved  Euthycheus  and  confirmed  his  heresy; 
drove  away  the  legates  of  pope  Leo;  and  put  to  death  St. 
Flavianus,  bishop  of  Constantinople. 

5.  Constantinople.  The  one  which  was  held  under  Leo 
the  Isauri 

Held  in  "/30:  Gregory  II.  being  pope  and  Leo  called 
the  Isaurian,  emperor. 

In  this  council  the  greater  part  were  laymen. 

They  decreed  against  the  images  of  Christ  and  of  the 
saints. 

6.  Constantinople.  The  one  held  under  Constantine 
Copronymus. 

About  the  year  754,  Stephen  II.  or  III.  being  pope. 
There  were  about  338  fathers  present. 
They  decreed  that  images  of  Christ  and  the  saints, 
ought  to  be  totally  abolished. 

7.  Pisa;  not  that  [of  1409]  which  is  subsequently 
reckoned  amongst  doubtful  councils. 

Held  about  510;  Julius  II.  being  pope,  and  Maximi- 
lian T.  emperor.  Called,  says  Bellarmin  [vol.  2,  lib.  i. 
chap.  6,  let.  B,  page  11]  by  the  emperor  and  the  king  of 
France  and  certain  cardinals,  against  Julius  II.,  and  re- 
probated a  little  after  in  the  2d  and  3d  session  of  the 
council  of  Lateran,  under  the  same  pope. 

Bellarmin  does  not  give  the  number  of  fathers  present 
at  this  council,  and  Pichler  says  he  could  not  ascertain  it. 

Pichler  adds  the  same  account  of  its  convocation  as 
that  given  above  from  Bellarmin ;  merely  in  addition, 
designating  the  council  that  reprobated  this  as  the  fifth 


b'2  GENERAL   COUNCILS. 

of  Lateran,  and  adding  the  name  of  Leo  X.  to  that  of 
Julius  II. 

These  councils,  the  reader  will  observe,  are  expressly 
reprobated  and  pronounced  illegal,  and  that  on  the  au- 
thority not  only  of  papistical  doctors  of  law  and  theology, 
but  even  of  popes  and  lawful  general  councils.  JNbw 
we  are  ready  to  prove,  whenever  archbishop  Kccleston 
will  hear  us,  that  a  greater  proportion  of  these  six  repro- 
bated councils  held  and  decreed  the  truth,  than  of  the 
eighteen  councils  pronounced  by  his  church  to  be  infalli- 
ble. The  three  last  of  these  illegal  councils,  appear  in 
the  main  to  have  judged  righteous  judgment  on  the 
points  here  named  ;  that  is,  half  of  them  were  right.  But 
of  the  eighteen  infallible  ones,  two-thirds  were  wrong  and 
scandalous,  in  material  points  of  faith  and  practice.  We 
proceed  to  the  last  head  of  Pichler. 

III.    General  councils  partly  legal  and  partly  illegal. 

1.  Sardicense;  the  appendix  to  the  first  Nicene  council. 
Held  in  351 ;  Julius  I.  being  pope,  and  Constantine 

Arianus  emperor. 

Present  300  western  fathers,  and  73  eastern. 

The  western  fathers  affirmed  the  Catholic  faith,  the 
eastern  held  to  the  Arian  heresy.  The  acts  of  the  latter 
are  rejected. 

2.  Sirmiense  [Sirmium.'] 

Held  in  356;  Liberius  being  pope,  and  the  above 
mentioned  Constantine,  emperor. 

The  .number  of  fathers  unknown. 

They  drew  up  two  creeds  totally  different  from  each 
other;  one  Catholic,  the  other  blasphemous.  They 
condemned  the  heresy  of  Photinus  [Unitarianism;] 
which  condemnation  is  approved  by  the  church. 

3.  Quini — Sextum;  held  at  Constantinople  in  the 
Trulline  palace,  whence  its  canons  are  called  Trullian. 

About  the  year  602;  Sergius  being  pope,  and  Justin- 
ian II.  or  the  younger,  emperor.  Hut  Bellarmin  (vol. 
2,  bib.  1,  chap.  vii.  p.  11)  says  the  time  when  it  was 
held  is  entirely  uncertain. 

Present  211  fathers:  the  pope  did  not  preside  person- 
ally, nor  did  he  ^end  legates;  but  immediately  repro- 
bated it. 


GENERAL  COUNCILS.  53 

They  passed  102  canons,  which  wen  annexed  to  the 
proceedings  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  general  synods,  and  on 
that  account  called  Quini-Sextum  for  the  filth  synod 
published  no  canons  at  all.  Of  these,  part  only  were 
afterwards  received.  Bellarmin  (in  the  seventh  chapter 
of  the  book  several  times  referred  to)  gives  the  eighty- 
second  canon  of  this  council,  which  tolerated  painted 
images,  as  a  specimen  of  such  as  were  approved:  and 
this  was,  he  says,  approved  by  pope  Adrian,  and  by  the 
second  and  fourth  acts  of  the  seventh  synod,  and  is  there- 
fore valid.  For  he  lays  it  down  expressly  that  the  acts 
of  this  synod  were  void,  so  far  as  they  were  passed  in  the 
absence  of  the  pope  and  his  legates. 

4.  Frank/or d;  which  hardly  deserves  to  be  called 
general,  as  no  oriental  bishops  were  present. 

Celebrated  in  794;  Adrian  I.  being  pope,  and  Charle- 
magne king  of  the  French,  (he  not  having  yet  attained  to 
the  empire). 

There  were  three  hundred  fathers,  and  the  pope's  le- 
gates presided. 

Approved  and  confirmed  as  to  that  part  which  declares 
Christ  to  be  the  natural  as  well  as  the  adopted  Son  of 
God.  Reprobated  so  far  as  it  erroneously  condemned 
the  seventh  synod. 

5.  Constance;  celebrated  at  Constance  on  the  lake 
Bodamica. 

Incomplete  in  1414,  John  XXIII.  being  pope,  and 
Sigismund  emperor:  finished  1418,  under  pope  Martin  V. 

Present  about  300  bishops,  and  700  minor  prelates. 

Suppressed  a  schism,  deposed  three  anti-popes,  elected 
Martin  V.  pope;  condemned  Wickliff  and  Huss,  and 
burnt  the  latter  alive.  Approved  by  Martin  V.,  except 
the  fourth  and  fifth  sessions,  which  declare  the  subjec- 
tion of  the  pope  to  a  council.  Bellarmin  informs  us  that 
this  is  reprobated  by  the  last  Lateran  council,  and  by 
the  council  of  Florence. 

6.  Basle  (Basil);  incomplete  at  Basle  on  the  Rhine 
finished  at  Lausanne,  on  the  lake  of  Geneva. 

Inchoate  in  1431;  Eugenius  IV.  being  pope:  com- 
pleted 1449,  under  pope  Nicholas  V. 
5* 


54  GENERAL    COUNCILS. 

The  number  of  fathers  present  Tint  ascertained;  the  le- 
gate of  the  pope  presided  part  of  the  time  only. 

They  elected  the  Dseudo-pope  Amedeus,  ;'  Sa- 

roy,  who  was  called  Felix  V.     Nothing  done  by  this 

council  is  approved,  except  a  few  acts  about  ecclesiasti- 
cal bent  Sees.  Bellarmin  adds  thai  this  council  was  re- 
probated by  the  last  Lateran  council. 

7.  Pisa;  held  at  Pisa  in  Italy;  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether  it  was  general  at  all  or  not. 

Held  in  1409:  Gregory  Mi.  and  Benedict  XIII.  pro- 
fessing to  be  popes  at  the  same  time. 

Present  180  bishops  and  900  minor  preh 

This  council  deposed  both  Gregory  and  Benedict,  and 
chose  Alexander  V.  pope.  Instead  of  composing,  it  in- 
creased the  schism. 

It  should  be  stated  that  Bellarmin  does  not  reckon 
this  last  council  under  this  head;  admitting  only  six  of 
these  councils.  It  should  also  be  stated  that  he  reckons 
eight  instead  of  seven  councils,  under  the  preceding  head 
of  illegal  general  councils.  The  first  seven  mentioned 
under  that  head  by  him,  are  the  same  taken  here  under 
our  second  general  division  from  Pichler.  But  lie  adds 
to  them,  as  the  eighth  general  illegal  council,  what  he 
calls  the  Council  of  Wittemberg;  which  he  says  the 
Lutherans  call  general,  and  at  which  there  were  three 
hundred  pastors,  Luther  himself  presiding,  in  the  year 
1536.  The  council  of  Pisa,  considered  as  is  seen  above 
by  Pichler,  the  seventh  general  council  partly  legal 
and  partly  illegal,  is  treated  of  by  Bellarmin  under  a 
separate  head.  In  chap.  viii.  of  lib.  1,  vol.  2,  he  admits 
that  it  may  not  be  manifest  whether  a  council  be  general 
and  approved,  or  disapproved;  and  that  this  is  particularly 
true  of  this  of  Pisa.  On  the  one  hand,  he  says  this  coun- 
cil is  pfonouiiced  illegal  by  some;  and  with  apparent 
reason,  as  it  totally  failed  of  the  great  object  of  its  cele- 
bration, namely,  the  composing  of  the  schism  which  then 
raged.  But  on  the  other  hand,  he  asserts  that  the  pope 
elected  by  it  (Alexander  V.),  and  his  successor  John, 
were  more  generally  considered  true  popes,  than  any  of 
the  three  pretenders  mho  at  one  and  the  same  time  set  up 
for  the  real  Simon  Pure.  And,  what  is  stronger  still, 
Alexander  VI.,   an  admitted   Mr.   Pure  on  all  hands 


GENERAL    COUNCILS. 

would  number  fi\ 

the  other  were  in. 

fully  believe:  it   is 
the  observant  reader  will  see,  amid 

of  contradictions  and 

not  that  wherefcf  they  affirm.     \ 

eral  or  not;  it'  general,  whether  it  be  legal  or  I .  ':  n 
general  or  leg  *her  it  be  wholly  of  partly  so; — the 

admissions  made  by  the  Jesuits  from  whom  we  translate, 
and  the   attentive  corapari  heir  statements,  even 

about  these  last  mentioned  six  or  seven  councils,  conclu- 
sively prove  that  their  boasted  infallible  guides  and 
jud^  not  even  known  to  them — much  less  under- 

stood by  them. 

We  have  followed  the  Jesuits  in  the  general  notation 
ofthesr  councils;  though  even  the  Jesuits  themselves 
disagree,  for  those  of  the  United  States  have  added  the 
council  of  Constance  to  the  list  of  the  general  councils — 
vrchbishop  Eccleston  and  his  Lciitifs  Directory  are 
good  authority.  It  is  also  questionable  whether  Rome 
agrees  with  either  view  of  the  Jesuits,  or  indeed  whether 
successive  popes  agree  entirely  with  each  other.  J/o- 
reri}  for  example,  states  that  the  list  of  geneal  councils 
inscribed  on  the  walls  of  the  library  of  the  Vatican 
at  Rome,  consists  of  eighteen;  being  precisely  those 
enumerated  in  this  article  after  Pichkr.  But  in  the 
life  of  Sixtus  V.,  who  had  those  inscriptions  placed 
in  that  library,  his  Italian  biographer,  Gregorio  Leti,  in 
his  ninth  book,  under  the  year  1588,  gives  a  list  of  six- 
teen general  councils  only;  omitting  those  marked  eleven 
and  twelve  in  the  foregoing  list.  The  various  portions 
of  the  papal  church  also  differ  widely  on  this  important 
subject;  the  church  of  France,  for  instance,  adding  Con- 
stance, Pisa,  and  Basle,  to  the  list  of  true  general  coun- 
cils; and  rejecting  from  that  number  the  fifth  Lateran 
council,  and  that  of  Florence  numbered  by  Rome  in  our 
list,  the  latter  sixteen  and  the  former  seventeen.  S 
that  France  has  I  rue  general  councils,  of  which 

Rome  rejects  three;   and  Rome   ha-  •>,   of  which 

France  rejects  two;  that  is,  five,  or  more  than  one  fourth 
of  the  true  general  councils,  are  still  in  dispute  in  the 


56  A    VISIT    TO    THE    BALTIMORE    CATHEDRAL. 

papal  cliureh.  In  truth,  the  papa]  system  is  such,  that  it 
is  an  absolute  impossibility  for  the  most  enlightened  and' 
devoted  Romanist  even  to  be  certain,  in  any  comfortable 
degree,  that  he  is  really  standing  on  the  basis  of  his  own 
creed.  And  the  result  is,  that  the  ecclesiastics  who  try 
to  fathom  the  chaos  are,  nearly  to  a  man,  skeptics;  while 
all  the  rest  believe  and  understand  nothing  except 
what  is  expressed  in  the  phrase — we  believe  what  the 
church  believes 

And  such  is  papism  as  it  lives  amongst  men.  Blanco 
White  and  Antonio  Gavin,  at  the  distance  of  a  centuiy 
apartr  being  popish  priests,  left  that  heresy  and  wrote 
each  a  book  concerning  it.  They  unite  in  pronouncing 
the  entire  clergy  of  the  church,  as  known  to  them,  utter 
unbelievers  in  any,  even  their  own  religion;  utter  stran- 
gers to  God,  to  virtue,  and  to  truth.  As  to  the  private 
members  of  that  sect,  how  many  do  you  know,  reader, 
who  are  humble,  enlightened,  consistent  followers  of  the 
Lord  Jesus?  Alas!  that  such  things  should  be.  But  oh! 
that  they  should  be  in  the  name  of  Him  whose  ways  and 
plans  and  words,  touching  our  salvation,  are  all  so  plain, 
so  pure,  so  lovely;  so  full  of  the  simple  and  yet  sublime 
majesty  of  unchanging  truth,  unerring  certainty! 


NUMBER    VIII. 

A  VISIT  TO  THE    BALTIMORE   CATHEDRAL. 

Most  strangers  who  visit  Baltimore,  are  conducted  to 
the  Cathedral  as  one  of  our  principal  shows.  It  is  a  large 
grey  stone  edifice  in  the  shape  of  a  cross — built  in  rather 
an  antique  style,  and  situated  on  the  highest  elevation 
perhaps  in  the  city.  It  was  built  in  great  part  by  funds 
raised  by  lottery;  a  mode  of  gambling  so  little  disapproved 
by    the  papal    ecclesiastics   of    Maryland,    that     priest 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  BALTIMORK  CATHEDRAL  57 

Mcllroy  of  Frederick  had  influence  enough  to  get  the  le- 
gislature of  this  state,  to  grant  him  a  lottery  to  aid  in  the 
erection  of  the  Cathedral  in  that  city,  at  the  very  moment 
that  the  same  body  were  wisely  and  diligently  occupied 
in  labours  to  suppress  lottery  gambling entariy  in  this  com- 
monwealth. The  foreign  friends  ot  uour  Catholic  breth- 
ren"— are  supposed  to  have  furnished  the  remaining  funds 
in  chief  part;  as  they  have  also,  many  of  the  decorations 
of  the  building.  Upon  the  whole,  it  is  a  very  line  edifice; 
spacious  and  imposing;  durable  and  noble.  We  rejoice 
to  look  forward  with  confident  hope  to  the  day  whtn  it 
will  be  purged  of  all  its  present  fooleries, — and  cleansed 
of  its  present  occupants,  and  when  the  pure  word  of  life 
will  have  free  course  there,  in  the  labours  and  instructions 
of  the  true  followers  of  the  Lamb. 

Visiters  usually  enter  the  building  at  the  west  door; 
that  is,  at  the  part  of  the  building  representing  the  lower 
end  of  the  cross.  Here  is  a  spacious  outer  entrance ; 
then  a  narrow  passage  across  the  building;  then  doors 
fronting  the  outer  entrance,  which  open  into  the  high 
and  capacious  church  itself.  At  the  side  of  two  of  the 
doors  stand  two  marble  vases  on  pedestals,  containing 
water  mixed  with  salt  and  oil,  called  holy  water,  and 
used  by  the  faithful  in  their  own  way.  It  is  a  pity 
some  of  them  do  not  use  it,  or  a  more  common  water, 
more  freely  and  effectually  than  they  do.  Near  these 
vases  and  in  other  parts  of  the  room  are  small  boxes 
to  receive  money;  labelled  "for  the  poor" — "for  the 
sanctuary-" — "for  the  free  schools,"  &c. — There  are  also 
two  figures,  about  as  large  as  life,  representing  angels, 
apparently  a  male  and  a  female — one  pointing  up  the 
main  isle  to  the  grand  altar,  with  a  few  words  writ- 
ten on  a  scroll;  the  other  holding  a  naked  sword  with 
a  label,  threatening  God's  wrath  on  any  who  violate  his 
temple — meaning  as  we  suppose,  that  one  especially. 
There  are  many  similar  things  which  we  shall  omit ;  our 
purpose  being  only  to  note  a  very  few  of  those  that  struck 
us,  on  this  our  fifth  or  sixth  visit  to  this  spectacle  ;  the 
more  by  token,  we  remember  that  every  time  we  entered 
except  during  public  worship,  we  had  money  to  pay. 
Rome  does  nothing,  not  even  pardon  sin — without  getting 
regular  pay  for  it.     The  souls  and  bodies  of  men,  as  the 


58  A  VISIT  TO  THE  BALTIMORE  CATHEDRAL. 

apostle  John  tells  us,  are  equally  and  alike  "merehandi- 
to  her. 

Paintings. 

These  are  probably  the  great  attraction  of  the  house. 
On  the  right  hand  of  the  main  entrance  ifl  a  very  large 
painting,  representing  the  scene  immediately  following 
the  crucifixion.  It  was  a  present  from  Louis  XVIII.  of 
France,  solicited  as  is  recorded  on  the  margin  of  the 
frame,  by  Count  De  Mennu.  The  canvass  contains  eight 
or  nine  figures  besides  that  of  the  Saviour,  all  as  large  as 
life.  The  work  is  from  the  pencil  of  Paul  Guerin.  In 
some  respects  it  is  a  very  fine  painting.  Upon  the  whole, 
we  think  inferior  in  expression  to  that  of  Annabal  Car- 
racci  representing  the  same  scene  though  with  fewer 
figures.  In  this,  the  shading  of  the  human  countenances 
is  too  dark;  the  faces  themselves  are  lacking  in  proper 
expression;  and  the  figure  representing  the  mother  of 
Jesus  is  peculiarly  defective,  in  beauty,  majesty,  and 
grace.  But  the  drapery,  the  inanimate  part  of  the  work,  is 
managed  with  very  great  skill  and  power.  Upon  the 
whole  it  may  be  called  a  fine  painting,  and  is  the  pe- 
culiar attraction  of  the  place.  There  is  one  dark  looking 
female  figure  embracing  the  cross  and  kissing  it,  though 
Jesus  himself  lay  near  her.  Apt  emblem  of  the  entire  su- 
perstition! In  the  very  presence  and  name  of  Jesus,  every 
thing  is  worshipped  but  Christ  himself. 

Corresponding  to  this  painting,  on  the  opposite  side  of 
this  end  of  the  room,  is  a  painting  representing  a  knight 
in  full  and  shining  armour,  attended  by  several  monks — 
burying  the  naked  body  of  a  man.  It  is  a  painting  of  St. 
Louis,  says  the  old  lady  who  acts  as  guide  on  these  occa- 
sions. It  is  a  scene  of  the  times  of  the  crusades. — It  is  a 
present  from  Charles  X.  of  France,  &c.  It  is  a  most 
contemptible  painting,  we  add.  And  as  we  turned  from 
it,  we  asked  ourselves,  is  it  possible  that  these  priests  arc 
so  devoid  both  ofprtldence  and  shame  as  to  hang  up  such 
evidences  as  this  of  their  real  feelings?  St.  Louis  and  the 
crusades,  and  Charles  X.!  Are  they  really  so  insane  as  to 
present  themselves  before  the  public. as  the  friends, advo- 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  BALTIMORE  CATHEDRAL  59 

cates,  eleves  of  such  men  and  such  events?  Very  well; 
people  will  open  their  eyes  by  and  hy. 

There  is  a  number  of  othei  paintings  in  the  room,  scim 
of  them  small,  others  of  tolerable  size.  The  greater  part 
representing  absurd  legends  of  the  church;  some  few 
scripture  pieces: — all,  nearly  without  exception,  wretch- 
ed and  contemptible  as  works  of  art.  We  will  not  ex- 
cept even  a  painting  of  the  Saviour  hanging  over  the 
main  entrance,  as  large  as  life  and  apparently  an  imita- 
tion of  the  figure  of  Christ  in  Dominichino's  great  picture 
of  the  bearing  of  the  cross. 

Altars. 

Ascending  the  room  from  west  to  east,  there  are  three 
aisles  extending  its  entire  length,  and  terminating  at  the 
upper  end  of  it,  before  the  altars,  of  which  there  are  three. 
The  great  altar  is  in  the  centre,  having  under  its  upper 
edge  this  inscription,  Altar e  privilegiatum  concessione 
Pii  VII.  1822;  we  quote  from  memory,  but  the  English  is, 
A  privileged  altar  by  permission  of  Pius  VII.  What  is 
a  privileged  altar?  What  right  has  Pius  VII.  to  give  or 
withhold  all  or  any  of  the  privileges  of  the  religion  of 
Jesus?  What  authority  has  any  foreign  despot  to  pre- 
scribe rules  temporal  or  spiritual,  to  the  citizens  of  this  re- 
public? It  is  a  privileged  altar;  whether  those  on  the 
right  and  left  of  it  are  equally  so,  does  not  appear.  All 
three  of  them  are  constructed  of  various  coloured  marble, 
- — and  they  are  about,  perhaps,  four  feet  high  and  eight  or 
ten  long;  the  centre  one  the  largest,  and  the  others  stand- 
ing twenty  or  thirty  feet  from  it,  and  facing  obliquely  in- 
ward. Between  the  main  altar  and  the  one  north  of  it  is 
the  archbishop's  seat;  corresponding  to  it  on  the  other 
side  is  the  pulpit.  On  the  back  of  the  archbishop's  seat 
and  on  the  central  altar,  is  the  large  cypher  A.  M.  which 
under  the  archipiscopal  coat  of  arms  is  written  in  full, 
Auspice  Maria — that  is,  Be  gracious  Mary!  Or  it  mav 
be,  they  are  the  initials  of  the  angelic  salutation  so  much 
used  by  them:  Ave  Maria,  fyc.    Hail  Mary,  fyc. 

All  these  altars,  this  edifice— the  ecclesiastics  who  of- 
ficiate here,  all  in  short,  it  thus  appears  are  devoted  to 
the  worship  and  care  of  a   pious  Jewish  female;  who 


60  A  VISIT  TO  THE  BALTIMORE  CATHEDRAL. 

about  eighteen  centuries  ago,  after  fulfilling lier  singular 
and  glorious  destiny  in  this  world,  returned  again,  as  to 
her  mortal  part,  to  the  earth  as  it  was — and  as  sbul, 

to  God  who  gatve  it.  Whether  there  are  any  relicks  of 
saints,  in  or  under  these  altars,  we  are  not  informed.  We 
saw  what  we  were   told    were  the  g  i   the  former 

archbishops,  which  seemed,  as  far  as  we  could  judge  in 
litter  darkness  and  under  ground,  to  be  under  the  two 
-side  altars.  Perhaps  we  are  by  and  by  to  have  American 
saints,  and  provision  is  making  by  depositing  their  re- 
licks  under  altars.  The  council  of  Trent  in  its  last  session, 
(on  the  first  day  of  it,)  decreed  anew  that  such  things 
should  be,  and  that  all  should  be  damned  who  denied  it. 
And  yet  we  venture  to  beseech  of  God,  that  no  American 
papist  may  even  be  corrupt,  debased  and  infamous 
enough  during  his  life,  to  be  esteemed  by  Rome  worthy 
of  being  a  saint  in  her  calender  after  his  death.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  we  are  authorized  by  our  aforesaid  Cice- 
rone, to  say  that  the  consecrated  wafer  which  the  priest 
by  saying  Hoc  est  Corpus,  (from  which  is  unquestionably 
derived  the  name  and  art  hocus  pocus,)  changed  into  the 
body,  blood,  soul  and  divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  is  kept 
constantly  on  all  these  altars  to  be  visited  and  worship- 
ped by  all  true  papists.  That  is  to  say,  if  they  speak 
truth,  there  are  three  separate  places  in  that  house — in 
which  the  one  Jesus  exists  whole  and  entire — and  above 
all,  in  the  appearance  of  a  piece  of  cake.  Alas!  Alas! 
Are  these  thy  gods  oht  Israel? 

The  Confessional. 

The  present  archbishop,  for  reasons  best  known  to  him- 
self, has  had  twTo  confessionals  erected  in  the  body  of  the 
church  about  two  thirds  down;  one  on  each  side  near  the 
north  and  south  wall.  There  a  space  is  railed  ofT,  per- 
haps ten  by  twenty  feet,  in  one  side  of  which  is  erected 
an  affair  not  unlike  three  centry  boxes  in  a  row,  with  a 
vacant  space  in  front.  In  this  space  the  faithful  come 
early  in  the  morning,  and  knee]  while  the  priest  celebrates 
mass;  that  is  according  to  his  own  belief,  while  he  cre- 
ates and  then  crucifies  Christ.  This  is  done  ever) 
morning  by  the  priest,  fasting.     When  he  is  through,  the 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  BALTIMORE     CATHEDRAL.  61 

confessionals  are  so  arranged  that  he  can  from  the  altar; 
see  if  any  are  kneeling*  in  them.  If  there  are,  he  enters 
the  middle  box,  and  a  penitent  each  of  the  end  boxes. 
He  opens  a  grate,  asks  all  sorts  of  indecent  and  shocking 
questions,  makes  all  manner  of  evil  and  sinful  suggestions 
to  the  penitent,  possesses  himself  of  all  manner  of  inform- 
ation about  all  possible  things  and  persons  likely  to  aid 
all  his  future  schemes  good  or  bad,  and  declares  with 
the  unerring  assurance  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  penance 
and  the  pardon.  The  poor  deluded  women,  (men  very 
seldom  go,)  depart  worse  than  they  came  ;  and  the  vicar 
of  the  bishop,  who  is  vicar  of  the  pope,  who  is  vicar  for 
God,  turns  round,  opens  another  grate,  and  renews  the 
process  to  another  prostrate  victim.  They  all  kneel  to 
the  priest  when  they  confess.  Now  we  have  two  words 
to  say.  The  first  is,  to  inform  the  papists  that  their 
priests  require  of  them  what  they  themselves  never  do. 
The  priests  never  make  any  other  than  mere  general  con- 
fessions. Catch  them  indeed  confessing  their  secret 
doings.  The  second  is  this  ;  with  all  reverence,  we  be- 
seech any  really  modest  female  to  tell  us,  how  she  can 
look  into  the  confiding  face  of  an  affectionate  husband  or 
lover,  after  having  told  a  foulmouthed  and  impertinent 
catechist  every  evil  thought  that  hadpassed  through  herown 
heart  ?  Reader,  look  over  the  questions  put  in  confession; 
you  will  find  them  in  all  Catholic  books  of  devotion, — and 
then  look  at  your  wife,  your  mother,  your  sister,  your  af- 
fianced bride  answering  them  on  their  knees  ;  and  then 
open  the  curtain  of  the  confessional  and  behold  the  self 
complacent  bon  vivant  who  asks  them !  Do  this,  and  our 
object  is  gained. 

The  Vaults. 

The  Vaults  !  what  of  them  ?  Ah  !  we  have  been  ac- 
tually and  bona  fide  down  one  flight  of  the  subterraneous 
apartments  under  the  cathedral.  And  that  too,  in  the 
guidance  of  the  said  very  respectable  and  voluble  old 
lady,  who  is  so  polite  and  communicative  to  all  visiters. 
We  had  often  and  over  heard,  that  she  had  threatened  if 
she  ever  got  us  there,  to  turn  bolt  and  ward  upon  us. 
6 


62  A  VISIT  TO  THE  BALTIMORE  CATHEDRAL. 

Let  us  try  her  thought  we.  Many  an  anonymous  frie«d 
had  hinted  to  us  of  these  cells;  let  us  sec  them,  said  we. 
But  we  have  not  seen  them.  The  old  lady  vows  there 
are  none.  She  declared  she  had  shown  us  all.  There 
was  nothing  more  to  be  seen.  We  will  tell  what  we  did 
see,  orrather  feel; — and  will  express  our  conjectures  as 
to  the  rest. 

We  had  no  light.  We  suggested  a  hint  about  the 
vaults.  The  Cicerone  insisted  on  our  descending  into 
all  that  existed.  We  descended,  accompanied  by  one 
friend.  The  entrance  lay  through  a  trap  door,  near  the 
main  door  of  the  building,  at  the  west  end.  We  descend- 
ed a  flight  of  steps,  turned  to  the  right,  and  rapidly 
passed  along  the  entire  extent  of  the  immense  edifice,  in 
almost  total  darkness.  Here  said  our  guide,  diverging 
to  the  left,  and  guided  by  a  ray  of  light  entering  through 
a  loop  hole  in  the  wall,  are  the  graves  of  the  two  first 
archbishops,  Carroll  and  Mareschall.  And  there,  she 
added,  passing  rapidly  by  a  circuitous  route  to  the  oppo- 
site corner  of  that  end  of  the  building,  is  the  grave  of  the 
late  archbishop  Whitfield.  The  two  former  seemed  to  be 
under  the  altar  at  the  north  east  angle,  the  latter  under 
that  at  the  south  east  angle  of  the  room  above.  This  is 
conjecture  only,  made  upon  the  spot,  and  by  the  localities. 
For  it  was  nearly  total  darkness — all  the  time;  in  short, 
the  guide  herself  got  lost  for  a  moment  on  our  return, 
amid  the  maze  of  arches  and  the  accumulation  of  what 
she  called  rubbish.  And  is  this  all?  She  solemnly  affirm- 
ed it.  Is  this  the  foundation  of  the  house?  She  une- 
quivocally declared  it  was?  Now  with  due  deference  to 
a  lady's  word  we  think  otherwise;  and  we  tell  why. 

1.  The  rubbish  is  nothing  more  than  fine  sand;  such 
as  exists  at  very  considerable  depths  in  this  region.  It 
is  in  all  likelihood,  the  sand  dug  out  of  the  second  and 
third  stories  under  ground  and  not  yet  removed:  left  per- 
haps expressly  as  a  blind. 

2.  The  floor  of  the  apartment  we  were  in,  is  but  little 
depressed  below  the  surface  of  the  earth.  We  saw  the 
loop  holes  on  the  sides  of  the  house  through  which  light 
entered;  the)  were  nearly  on  a  level  with  our  face.  Be- 
sides we  descended  just  about  as   many  steps  as  we  as- 


A  VISIT  TO  THE   BALTIMORE   CATHEDRAL.  63 

eend  on  the   outside  to  enter   the  house.     The  m«i- 
sand  in  this   apartment,    we  should  suppose  a   hundred 
times  as   gieat  as  it  should  be,   if  the    account  given  be 
true.     Indeed  there  would  in  that  ease  be  almost  none. 

3.  The  depth  of  the  arches  as  shown  by  our  being 
obliged  to  stoop  as  we  passed  under  them,  compared  with 
their  span,  demonstrates  that  their  foundations  are  far 
below.  A  fact  corroborated  by  the  mass  sustained  by 
them,  especially  those  under  the  stupendous  dome,  which 
occupies  all  the  centre  of  the  edifice.  What  puts  this 
past  doubt,  is  the  fact  that  the  plan  of  the  building,  drawn 
by  the  late  Mr.  Latrobe,  is  expressly  declared  by  those 
who  have  seen  it,  to  exhibit  two  rotes  of  arches;  one  on 
the  top  of  the  other.  There  is  therefore,  contrary  to  what 
is  declared,  arches  and  apartments  below  those  shown 
as  the  only  ones.  And  as  the  sand  must  have  been  all 
removed,  before  the  bottom  one  of  those  two  courses  of 
arches  could  be  erected;  the  probability  is  that  the  sand 
now  in  the  upper  subterraneous  room,  came  from  the 
third  or  even  the  fourth  story  under  the  ground. 

Let  any  man  compare  what  is  now  doing  to  lay  a  good 
foundation  for  the  new  custom  house  in  Gay  street,  wTith 
the  single  row  of  arches  exhibited  as  all,  at  the  cathe- 
dral, and  he  will  have  sensible  demonstration  of  the  false- 
hood. 

4.  That  part  of  the  first  story  under  the  church  which 
lies  immediately  under  the  portions  constituting  the  wings, 
or  transverse  of  the  cross,  was  in  total  darkness  ;  the  loop 
holes  hid  and  no  access  to  it  apparent,  amid  the  mass  of 
sand.  These  portions  are  perhaps,  each  from  thirty  to 
fifty  feet  square.  Under  them,  we  judge  the  steps  and 
landing  places  to  be.  In  them  lies  the  access  to  the  re- 
gions below,  in  all  probability  connecting  with  others  at 
the  east  end  of  the  building;  and  by  subterraneous  passa- 
ges with  the  archipiscopal  residence,  which  is  situated 
just  next  to  the  cathedral. 

5.  Upon  striking  violently  on  the  floor  with  a  small 
stiff  walking  stick,  it  appeared  to  us  that  where  the  sand 
seemed  most  shallow,  the  stick  met  with  most  resistance; 
which  is  the  reverse  of  what  would  be  true,  if  there  were 
nothing  but  sand.     We  are  sure  that  under  portions  of 


64  A  VISIT  TO  THE  BALTIMORE   CATHEDRAL. 

the  sand,  the  cane  came  in  contact  with  solid  substances; 
Ave  believe  a  pavement. 

6.  It  is  a  fact  perfectly  notorious  in  this  city,  that  when 
the  foundation  of  this  edifice  was  constructing,  the  whole  of 

it  was  boarded  up  with  high  planks,with  the  w  ordsuNu  ad- 
mittance," placarded  on  them.  It  is  equally  notorious 
that  hundreds  of  persons  are  now  alive,  who  were  boys 
here  at  that  time,  and  who  with  the  curiosity  and  ingenuity 
universal  at  their  age,  saw  more  that  was  behind  those 
boards  than  was  intended  for  eyes  profane;  and  that  they 
unanimously  testify  to  the  immensity  of  the  excavations 
then  made  there.  How  then  came  the  place  filled  up 
now?  And  with  such  peculiar  materials?  And  the  plain 
facts,  which  are  hard  to  be  hoaestly  accounted  for,  denied? 

7.  Hundreds  of  people  in  this  state,  and  especially  in 
this  city  and  in  Harford  county,  well  knew  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Foley,  now  dead — who  repeatedly- 
declared  (when  drunk)  that  he  had  been  confined  him- 
self in  the  dungeons  of  the  cathedral:  and  all  the  cor- 
responding circumstances,  such  as  the  man's  sudden 
disappearance  and  return,  length  of  absence,  disposi- 
tion to  abandon  his  religion,  &c.<,  confirmed  his  story. 
This  fact  has  been  heretofore  published,  and  remains 
undenied. 

8.  Formerly  it  was  admitted  by  the  Catholics  here, 
that  there  were  cells  of  some  kind  under  the  cathedral  ; 
and  the  fact  explained  sometimes  by  saying  they  were 
intended  for  vaults  to  bury  dead  priests  in;  at  others, 
by  calling  it  a  wine  cellar.  Now  it  is  denied  that  there 
are  cells  at  all !     Which  are  we  expected  to  believe? 

9.  It  is  the  universal  custom  of  papists  in  all  countries, 
to  have  subterraneous  apartments  under  their  principal 
edifices.  There  is  a  subterraneous  chapel  up  at  St. 
Mary's  seminary  in  this  city,  in  common  use.  The  pre- 
sumption is  therefore  in  favour  of  such  apartments  being 
constructed  under  the  cathedral,  in  the  absence  of  all 
proof;  but  with  concurring  proof  it  becomes  violent. 

10.  In  all  places  where  the  civil  laws  permit,  this  su- 
perstition punishes  men  and  women  with  stripes, impnson- 
ment,  and  death,  for  religious  ei  ror.  They  need  therefore, 
places  of  discipline,  confinement  and  death.     They  have 


A  VISIT  TO  THE   BALTIMORE  CATHEDRAL.  65 

them  in  other  countries.  They  have  here  every  other 
part  of  their  system.  Their  popes  and  councils  pro- 
nounce this  part  indispensable.  Why  then  should  this 
part  not  exist?  It  is  most  probable  it  does,  even  if  all 
direct  proof  were  wanting.  When  direct  proof,  condu- 
cing to  this  end  is  offered,  the  presumption  is  infini 
strengthened.  When  facts  capable  of  no  possible  ex- 
planation, except  on  this  supposition,  crowd  upon  us,  it 
is  the  work  of  folly  to  discredit  their  teachings. 

On  the  whole,  we  have  no  hesitation  in  expressing  our 
belief  that  most  of  the  principal  edifices  of  the  papists 
in  this  country,  are  provided  with  subterranean  and  other 
places  of  secret  confinement  and  punishment.  So  de- 
cided is  our  belief  of  this  fact,  that  we  will  risk  two  pro* 
posals  on  it. 

The  first  is  to  our  enemies.  If  permission  is  granted 
us  by  the  archbishop  and  the  trustees  of  the  cathedral 
to  make  a  thorough  search,  we  will  undertake  it;  and  at 
the  end  of  it,  we  will  frankly  and  fairly  publish  the  pro- 
gress and  result  of  it;  let  it  end  as  it  may. 

The  second  is  to  our  friends.  If  we  suddenly  disap- 
pear— as  our  lives  have  been  over  and  over  again  threat- 
ened, we  request  that  the  foundations  of  all  the  principal 
Catholic  establishments  in  this  country  may  be  thorough- 
ly examined  and  searched  for  us.  We  do  not  regard  the 
threats  of  death;  it  would,  we  sometimes  hope,  be  the 
greatest  of  favors  to  us.  But  the  long  midnight  of  a 
living  death, with  all  the  fierce  array  of  torture,  starvation*, 
parching  thirst,  incessant  mockings  and  scourgings; 
such  as  men  of  the  same  religion  and  same  spirit,  govern- 
ed by  the  same  feelings  and  the  same  morality  with  those 
who  denounce  us,  have  inflicted  on  better  men  than  we 
are,  for  the  very  things  that  we  are  daily  doing;  these 
things  we  would  avoid,  if  suck  were  the  will  of  God. 


66        THE  LAST  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOIS. 

NUMBER  IX. 

THE  LAST  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOIS. 

The  President  Henault,  in  his  Chronological  His- 
tory of  France,  has  pronounced  the  famous  uLeagut 
formed  amongst  the  Catholic  nobles  of  that  realm  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century;  the  most  extra- 
ordinary event  recorded  in  history.  Conceived,  as  he 
asserts,  and  the  original  plan  formed  at  the  council  of 
Trent,  where  all  the  evils  of  Christendom  came  together, 
by  the  cardinal  of  Lorrain;  the  death  of  his  brother 
Francis,  Due  de  Guise,  only  interrupted  its  develop- 
ment. When  his  nephew,  Henry,  Due  de  Guise,  came 
of  age,  the  cardinal  resumed  this  enterprise,  which  his 
own  subsequent  death  did  not  defeat  or  retard.  (See  He- 
nault,  vol.  1,  p.  438,  and  p.  455.) 

About  the  year  1576  the  league  was  first  regularly  or- 
ganized in  Picardy,  and  spread  rapidly  over  France.  Its 
ostensible  objects  were,  the  protection  of  the  monarchy, 
and  the  maintenance  of  the  purity  of  the  Catholic  faith. 
But  in  the  end  it  overturned  the  throne,  and  during 
twenty  years,  involved  the  kingdom  in  all  the  horrors 
following  in  the  train  of  civil  and  religious  wars.  "If 
ever  I  take  part"  such  was  the  oath  of  the  leaguers, 
"  hold  friendship,  enter  into  league,  or  join  in  matrimony 
with  heretics;  if  ever  I  give  aid  or  'plight  my  faith  to 
them,  or  so  much  as  observe  the  common  forms  of  saluta- 
tion towards  them;  then  let  God  confound  me."  (See 
WraxalVs  Hist,  of  France,  p.  47.  Steele's  Rom.  Eccle. 
Hist.  p.  158.) 

Henry  III.,  king  of  France,  and  the  last  of  the  un- 
happy line  of  Valois,  was  weak  enough  to  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  this  monstrous  association;  and  so  became 
for  a  period  entirely  dependent  on  it,  and  almost  subject 
to  its  leaders. 

About  the  year  1585  Felix  Perretti,  a  Dominican 
monk,  raised  himself  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  and  as- 
sumed the  name  of  Sixtus  the  Fifth;  a  name  but  too 
well  known  in  history.     At  this  period  France  was  di- 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOIS.       G7 

vided  into  three  parties;  and  the  triple  war  eomineneed, 
called  the  war  of  the  three  Henries,  firoiri  Henry  III., 
king  of  France,  at  the  head  of  the  royalist  party;  Henry, 
king  of  Navarre,  afterwards  Henry  IV.  of  Franee,  at  the 
head  of  the  Protestants;  and  Henry,  Due.  de  Guise,  at 
the  head  of  the  leaguers.  The  pope  perceiving  that  the 
tendency  of  affairs  was  to  drive  the  king  of  France  to 
the  necessity  of  uniting  with  the  king  of  Navarre,  pub- 
lished a  bull,  in  which  he  excommunicated  the  latter  and 
tht  prince  of  Conde,  and  declared  them  unworthy  of 
succeeding  to  the  crown  of  France,  to  which  they  were 
both  Luirs  presumptive,  but  both  Hugonots.  Sixtus  V. 
expected  by  this  bull  to  conciliate  the  league,  to  ruin  the 
Protestant  princes,  and  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  the 
future  union  of  the  two  kings.  He  therefore  accompa- 
nied his  malediction  of  the  excommunicated  princes 
with  the  most  opprobrious  epithets,  denouncing  them  as 
apostates,  heretics,  and  enemies  of  God  and  man. 
Their  subjects  were  released  from  all  obedience,  and  the 
king  of  France  exhorted  to  extirpate  the  whole  race  of 
Bourbon,  and  execute  at  once  the  papal  sentence.  (See 
De  Thou ,  vol.  ix.  p.  368,  371;  the  2d  vol.  of  WraxalPs 
France,  and  the  1st  vol.  of  HenauWs  do.  in  loc.) 

In  this,  however,  as  in  some  other  cases,  this  pope 
overleaped  the  mark.  Henry  III.  saw  that  this  outrage, 
though  levelled  at  heresy,  attacked  the  majesty  of  his 
throne.  And,  thanks  to  Martin  Luther,  light  had  now 
been  shining  for  fifty  years  on  the  walls  of  the  Vatican. 
The  king  did  not  forget  that  twenty-three  years  before, 
when  Pius  IV.  excommunicated  the  mother  of  the  very 
princes  now  cursed;  the  constable  Montmorenci  and  the 
chancellor  l'Hopital,  who  ruled  in  the  cabinet  of  Charles 
IX.,  and  whose  names  will  live  forever  in  the  military 
and  legal  annals  of  mankind;  forced  the  see  of  Rome  to 
revoke  and  even  to  suppress  the  bull.  He  remembered 
these  things;  and,  though  he  dared  not  openly  resist  the 
pope,  he  prohibited  the  publication  of  the  offensive  bull. 
(De  Thou,  vol.  ix.  p.  374—6.) 

But  the  young  king  of  Navarre,  boldly  replied  to  the 
popes's   bull;  denounced  his  holiness  as  a  calumniator; 


C8       THE  LAST  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOIS. 

appealed  from  his  sentence  to  a  general  council;  de- 
clared mortal  enmity  against  him  as  Anti-Christ;  re- 
minded him  that  his  own  ancestors  had  before  chastised 
the  insolence  of  the  see  of  Rome,  and  threatened  him 
with  exacting  exemplary  \  ciigcanee;  and  caused  this 
fearless  response  to  be  posted  up  at  the  very  gates  of  the 
pope's  palace,  and  in  the  most  public  places  in  Rome. 

in  the  midst  of  troubles  which  seemed  to  become 
more  dreadful  to  France,  the  great  Duke  of  Guise  be- 
came at  last  so  powerful  as  to  aspire  almost  openly  to 
the  throne  ;  while  Henry  seemed  sinking  under  causes 
not  unlike  those  by  which  the  first  race  of  the  French 
kings  had  been  set  aside  by  Pepin,  so  many  centuries 
before.  Indeed,  wThile  the  Due  de  Guise,  stood  at  the 
head  of  the  league,  the  Cardinal  de  Bourbon  openly  set 
up  his  pretensions  to  the  throne  ;  and  Catherine  de  Me- 
dici, the  queen  mother,  intrigued  for  the  succession  of 
her  grandson,  the  duke  of  Lorrain.  Publicly  superceded 
in  his  lawful  authority,  and  privately  contemned  and  in- 
sulted ;  the  king  at  length  roused  himself  up,  and  adopt- 
ing in  his  extremity  the  maxims  of  his  age  and  his  reli- 
gion, determined  to  cut  off  his  most  audacious  nobles. — 
D'Aubigny  as  quoted  by  Henault,  (vol.  1,  p.  453,)  ex- 
pressly declares  that  when  the  execution  of  the  duke  and 
the  cardinal  de  Guise,  was  proposed  in  council  by  the 
king,  and  opposed  by  others  on  account  of  the  danger  he 
would  expose  himself  to  at  Rome  by  this  open  attack  on 
the  leaders  of  the  league,  the  pope's  friends,  and  one  of 
them  a  cardinal ;  "Henry  took  a  letter  out  of  his  pocket, 
in  which  Sixtus  Quintus  advised  him  to  become  absolute 
master  by  any  violence."  The  duke  and  cardinal  were 
therefore  massacred  on  the  two  following  days,  with  the 
full  concurrence  of  the  pope.  (See  PEtoile,  p.  257, 
259.     De  Thou,  vol.  x.  p.  460,  470.     Davila,  p.  747.) 

Here  then  we  see  two  of  these  parties  disposed  of  by 
his  holiness.  His  enemy  Henry  of  Navarre,  excommu- 
nicated ;  and  sate  only  so  long  as  he  could  defend  him- 
self by  arms.  His  friends  Henry  of  Guise,  and  the  car- 
dinal ins  uncle,  butchered  by  his  advice.  So  much  for 
the  Protestants,  and  the  Leaders  of  the  league.  Now  let 
us  see  what  fate  awaited  the  remaining  party. 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOI>.        G9 

Pressed  on  all  sides,  the  king  at  last  found,  himself 
compelled  to  seek  anew,  reconciliation  with  the  king 

N   varre.     The  death  of  Catherine  of  \  had  cut 

off  all  hopes  of  the  house  of  Lorrain  attaining  to  the  s< 
reignty.  The  murder  of  the  Guises  while  it  freed  Henry 
from  the  fear  oi  immediate  ruin,  inflamed  in  tl. 
terrible  manner  the  adherents  of  the  league,  still  the 
most  powerful  oi  three  parties  in  France  ;  and,  as  one  of 
them  had  been  a  cardinal,  the  pope  laid  hold  on  this  fact 
and  used  it  in  such  way  as  he  supposed  would  conciliate 
the  league  by  his  pretended  anger  at  the  death  of  their 
leaders;  while  by  advising  their  destruction,  he  had  al- 
ready as  he  hoped,  laid  the  king  under  the  greatest  obli- 
gations. At  the  same  time,  the  death  of  the  duke  of 
Anjou  (15S4,)  the  only  remaining  brother  of  the  king, 
who  had  no  issue,  opened  the  succession  to  the  throne  to 
the  house  oi  Bourbon.  And  as  the  disgrace  and  con- 
finement of  the  cardinal  of  Bourbon,  had  put  an  end  to 
his  pretensions  as  the  head  of  that  house ;  the  young  king 
of  Navarre  stood  as  the  next  heir  of  the  monarchy  in  de- 
fault of  issue  to  the  reigning  king.  Besides  this,  the  two 
kings  were  nearly  related  by  blood,  still  more  nearly  al- 
lied by  marriage  ;  both  at  war  with  the  league ;  both 
hated  by  the  pope  ;  both  jealous  of  his  insolent  preten- 
sions; and  both  repeatedly  threatened  with  assassination 
by  the  joint  creatures  of  Rome  and  the  league. 

In  such  circumstances,  Henry  III,  found  himself  sur- 
rounded by  the  greatest  difficulties.  He  was  refused  ab- 
solution by  the  pope,  for  the  murder  of  the  Guises, 
though  they  were  taken  oft  by  his  own  advice  ;  and 
threatened  with  speedy  excommunication,  if  he  did  not 
comply  with  his  extravagant  demands.  The  college  of 
the  Sorbonne,  whose  decrees  in  theology,  were  consider- 
ed sacred  by  the  faithful  throughout  France;  solemnly 
decreed  that  the  nation  was  freed  from  its  allegiance  to 
the  king,  and  that  the  safety  of  the  Catholic  faith  re- 
quired his  destruction.  The  Parliament  of  Paris  was 
imprisoned ;  the  monks  had  excited  the  capital,  and  after 
it  most  of  the  cities  of  the  kingdom  to  rerolt ;  the  king 
was  accused  of  every  crime,  and  not  only  his  deposition 
agreed  on,  but  the  convent  of  the  Hieronimities,    in  the 


70       THE  LAST  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOTS. 

wood  of  Vincennes  was  fixed  on  as  the  place  of  his  future 
confinement  during  life.  (De  Thou,  vol.  x.  p.  525,  29. 
Davilla,  p.  772,  5.)  The  league  was  in  possession  of 
nearly  all  his  dominions  ;  the  victorious  Hugonots  were 
advancing  rapidly  upon  him;  his  treasury  was  empty,  his 
army  neither  numerous  nor  well  appointed  ;  and  of  the 
surrounding  states,  Spain,  Savoy  and  the  Pope,  decided- 
ly the  frie&ds  of  the  league  and  the  sagacious  and  pow- 
erful Elizabeth  of  England,  the  open  protectress  of  the 
Protestants. 

At  this  crisis,  the  noble  conduct  of  the  young  king  of 
Navarre  opened  a  door  of  hope  to  Henry  III  ;  and  after 
a  short  preliminary  discussion,  a  truce  for  two  years  was 
concluded  between  them  on  the  3d  of  April,  1589.  Yet 
to  so  abject  a  condition  was  Henry  reduced,  that  he  offer- 
ed the  most  humiliating  terms  of  peace  to  the  duke  of 
Mayenne,  who  had  succeeded  his  murdered  brother,  the 
Due  de  Guise,  as  head  of  the  league,  and  lieutenant- 
general  of  the  forces  ;  and  who  now  elated  by  the  pros- 
pect of  complete  success,  and  confident  of  the  protec- 
tion of  Sixtus  V.,  rejected  with  contempt  all  the  over- 
tures of  the  king.  (Besides  De  Thou,  Davilla,  and 
Wraxall,  quoted  above,  see  Mezerai,  vol.  iii,  p.  580.) 

The  publication  of  the  treaty  between  the  Hugonots 
and  French  Catholics,  (as  we  may  call  them  in  contra- 
distinction from  the  leaguers  or  pope's  party;)  excited 
the  city  of  Paris,  which  was  in  the  hands  of  the  adher- 
ents of  the  league  and  the  pope,  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
fury.  Sixtus  V.  faithfully  informed  of  the  state  of  af- 
fairs, incensed  at  the  refusal  of  the  king  to  liberate  cer- 
tain creatures  of  his,  whom  his  own  safety  had  forced 
Henry  to  confine,  and  convinced  that  the  condition  of  the 
crown  was  desperate;  issued  on  the  24th  of  May,  1589, 
a  monitory  commanding  the  French  monarch  icithin  ten 
days  to  liberate  the  cardinal  of  Bourbon  and  the  .irch- 
bishop  of  Lyons  ;  (who  were  then  state  prisoners  for  trea- 
son.) In  case  of  Henry'' s  refusal  to  obey  this  imperious 
mandate,  the  pope  declared  him  and  all  his  adherents,  ex- 
communi'CATed  ;  and  commanded  him  to  appear  icithin 
sixty  days  before  his  tribunal  at  Rome  !  This  wily  Pon- 
tiff in  the  midst  of  his  rage  had  sense  enough  left  to 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOIS.       71 

comprehend,  that  after  all,  Henry  might  brat  the  league 
at  last;  and  therefore  while  he  gratified  his  own  revel  . . 
and  conciliated  the  foreign  and  domestic  enemies  <>f  ta- 
king of  France  by  his  anathema;  yet  he  refused  to  ad- 
vance a  farthing  from  the  treasury  of  St.  Peter,  to  aid  the 
duke  of  Mayenne  in  executing  his  papal  excommunica- 
tion ;  thus  saving  at  once  his  treasure,  and  keeping 
door  open  for  all  future  contingencies.  (De  Thou,  vol. 
x.  p.  594.     Davilla,  p.  810.      WroxoH,  vol.  iii.  ch.  8.) 

As  was  natural,  these  events  united  the  two  kings 
more  closely.  They  met  in  person  at  the  castle  of  Pies- 
sis,  near  Tours ;  and  apparently  cordially  reconciled  to 
each  other,  prepared  to  prosecute  the  war  with  redoubled 
vigour.  After  various  adventures,  the  king  in  person  sat 
down  before  Paris  and  closely  invested  it,  towards  the 
end  of  July  1589.  With  a  powerful  army,  flushed  by  re- 
peated victories,  and  led  by  the  ablest  commanders  of 
that  age  ;  opposed  by  dispirited  and  defeated  troops  now 
shut  up  in  the  capitol,  and  about  to  suffer  the  horrors  in- 
cident to  the  siege  of  so  large  a  city ;  the  affairs  of  the 
king  seemed  to  be  in  the  most  prosperous  condition, 
while  his  enemies  were  hastening  to  ruin.  No  situation 
indeed  could  be  more  desperate  than  that  of  the  league, 
nor  any  triumph  more  certain  than  that  of  the  king  ;  when 
one  of  those  events  which  we  so  often  meet  with  in  pa- 
pal story,  and  which  throw  so  terrible  a  shade  over  the 
principles  and  practices  of  that  church,  which  claims  to 
be  the  only  one  in  whose  profession  the  soul  can  rest  in 
safety  ;  turned  the  whole  aspect  of  the  scene,  and  robbed 
the  king  at  once  of  his  triumph  and  his  life. 

A  monk  scarcely  twenty-three  years  of  age,  by  name, 
James  Clement,  and  by  profession  a  Dominican,  (to  which 
order  the  reigning  pontiff  himself  belonged;)  was  the 
author  of  so  momentous  a  revolution.  Ferocious,  gloomy 
and  daring;  dissolute,  ignorant  and  superstitious;  (alas! 
how  like  the  multitude  of  his  brethren!)  he  undertook  at 
the  suggestion  of  Bourgoing,  the  prior  of  his  convent, 
to  assassinate  the  king.  Every  earthly  reward,  if  he 
should  come  off  with  life  ;  and  all  divine  recompences 
if  he  fell,  were  profusely  promised  to  sustain  him  in  his 
atrocious  enterprise.     The  nature  and  the  reality  of  these 


72        THE  LAST  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOIS. 

attempts  on  his  credulity  and  fanaticism,  may  be  conceived 
from  the'horrible  defence  of  the  crimejhe  committed,  in 
the  public  discourse  by  Pope  Sixtus  V.  which  is  annex- 
ed to  this  narrative.  Nay,  the  brutal  priest  is  said  to 
have  received,  from  some  of  the  most  distinguished  fe- 
males of  the  pope's  faction  in  Paris,  and  amongst  the 
chief  of  them  from  the  duchess  of  Montpenser,  sister 
to  the  murdered  duke  of  Guise;  such  sacrifices  and 
compliances  as  are  usually  considered  most  acceptable  to 
a  depraved  and  sensual  monk.  It  is  certain  that  no  in- 
ducements were  spared  by  the  adherents  of  the  pope  and 
the  league,  to  encourage  him;  nor  any  acts  considered  too 
vile,  by  which  success  might  be  wTon.  The  president  of 
the  Parliament  of  Paris,  Harlai^then  in  the  prison  of  the 
Bastile,  and  the  count  Brienne  detained  in  the  Louvre, 
were  deceived  by  the  accomplices  of  the  monk;  and  al- 
though themselves  in  confinement  for  their  devotion  to 
the  king,  wTere  trepaned  by  false  pretences;  and  furnished 
letters  to  the  assasin  which  facilitated  his  diabolical  un- 
dertaking. They  who  will  consider  these  statements, 
and  those  which  follow,  and  which  are  drawn  from 
sources  perfectly  authentic;  will  perceive  that  the  pope  in 
his  discourse  pronounced  in  the  consistory  at  Rome, 
thirty-twro  days  after  the  assassination  of  the  French 
monarch,  not  only  suppresses  .material  facts  in  order  to 
make  the  crime  of  his  brother  Dominican,  appear  to  be 
favoured  of  God;  but  also  falsifies  in  the  most  glaring 
manner,  the  simplest  details  he  pretends  to  recount. 

Henry  had  been  so  often  warned  of  the  meditiated  at- 
tempts on  his  life,  that  it  would  perhaps  have  been  im- 
possible for  any  one  but  an  ecclesiastic,  to  have  had  ac- 
cess to  him,  under  circumstances  that  would  render  such 
an  attempt  possible.  But  his  devotion  to  the  monastic 
orders  was  so  childish  as  to  exceed  belief,  and  on  one 
occasion  drew  down  on  him  the  contemptuous  and  bitter 
reproach  of  this  very  pope  Sixtus  V.;  the  king  of  France, 
said  he,  is  trying  all  his  days  to  become  a  monk,  and  I 
who  was  one  all  mine,  to  cease  being  one!  Indeed,  it 
was  not  unusual  with  him  to  join  with  the  basest  of  the 
people  in  the  stupid  and  indecent  processions  ot  the 
Penitents;  walking  hours  together,  barefooted  and  nearly 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOIS.        73 

naked,  with  a  sack  over  his  head  and  person,  through  the 
streets  of  his  own  capital. 

On  the  31st  of  July.  L58  ».  the  monk  quitted  Paris,  and 
being  stopped  by  the  advanced  guards  of  the  royal  arm 
was  carried  to  La  Guesse  the  solicitor-general,  who  de- 
tained him  during  the  night,  and  in  the  morning  of  Au- 
gust 1st,  conducted  him  to  the  king;  for  whom  he  pro- 
fessed to  have  a  most  important  message.  And  so  indeed 
he  had!  Clement  was  admitted  into  the  royal  presence, 
while  the  king  was  yet  undressed;  and  presented  to  him 
the  letter  which  had  been  obtained  from  the  count  Brienne. 
While  the  king  attentively  perused  the  letter,  the  monk 
took  a  knife  from  his  sleeve,  and  with  incredible  celerity 
plunged  it  into  his  body.  Henry  drew  his  sword  and 
fell  on  the  monk;  and  several  gentlemen  of  the  household 
who  were  at  hand,  slew  him  before  he  could  escape  from 
the  apartment;  and  threw  his  body  from  the  window. 
(De  Thou,  vol.  x.  p.  668.  Davilla,  p.  S15.  Renault, 
vol.  i.  p.  455.) 

The  king  lingered  until  the  next  day,  when  he  died  in 
his  thirty-eighth  year,  having  reigned  fifteen  years.  He 
left  no  children,  nor  any  male  relatives  of  the  blood  royal 
nearer  than  Henry  of  Navarre;  who  in  his  own  right  was 
heir  apparent,  and  was  declared  by  the  king  in  his  last 
moments  to  be  his  successor.  He  mounted  the  throne  of 
France  by  the  name  of  Henry  IV.;  and  after  a  most  event- 
ful life,  fell  himself,  by  the  hands  of  a  popish  assasin. 

With  Henry  III.  ended  the  line  of  Yalois,  which  be- 
gan to  reign  in  1328.  Some  say  he  was  murdered  in  the 
hotel  de  Goudi,  at  St.  Cloud,  in  the  identical  room  in 
which  the  horrible  butchery  of  the  Protestants,  usuallv 
called  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  was  resolved  on 
by  his  ferocious  brother  Charles  IX.  and  his  still  more  fe- 
rocious mother  Catherine  de  Medici,  seventeen  vears  be- 
fore. Henry  was  a  man  in  all  respects  remarkable;  and 
perhaps  no  prince  ever  excited  higher  expectations,  or 
more  fatally  disappointed  them.  He  possessed  a  charac- 
ter, says  M.  de  Thou,  who  was  his  cotemporarv,  and  knew 
him  well,  perfectly  incomprehensible;  in  some  things  su- 
perior to  his  dignity,  in  others  weaker  than  a  child.  In 
his  unhappy  race  which  reigned  over  France  261  years, 
7 


74  THE  LAST  OF  THE  HOUSE   OF  VALOIS. 

and  furnished  thirteen  of  her  kings;  all  in  some  respects 
remarkable  for  princely  qualities,  and  nearly  all  still  more 
so  for  vices  and  misfortunes;  there  was  notone  perhaps 
so  fair  an  epitome  of  the  whole,  as  he  who  was  the  last  of 
the  renouned  house  of  Valois.  Yet  strange  as  it  maybe, 
under  this  race  Prance  made  prodigious  advances.  Her 
territory  was  enlarged  by  the  acquisition  of  some  of  the 
finest  provinces;  Dauphine,  Burgundy,  Provence  and 
Brittany.  Her  laws  were  consolidated  and  perfected. 
Learning  was  encouraged,  and  the  arts  were  patronised 
by  nearly  every  one  of  this  long  line  of  kings.  The  ac- 
cession of  the  hquse  of  Bourbon  to  the  throne  in  the  per- 
son of  the  king  of  Navarre,  forms  one  of  the  most  striking 
eras  in  the  history  of  France;  and  to  the  protestant  reader 
it  ought  to  be  a  subject  of  peculiar  gratitude  that  such  an 
account  as  that  furnished  us  by  the  great  Sully  has  come 
down  to  us.  To  such  readers,  we  offer  no  apology  for 
adding  his  testimony  as  to  some  of  the  causes  operating 
on  the  events,  of  which  a  brief  sketch  is  here  made. 

Henry  of  Guise,  Henry  of  France,  Henry  of  Navarre, 
and  Sixtus  V.  pope  of  Rome:  these  are  the  chief  actors 
in  this    bloody  drama.     Behold    the  issue!     Henry   of 
Guise  intriguing  for  his  sovereign's  throne,  with  the  con- 
nivance of  the  pope;  then  murdered  by  the  king  for  these 
intrigues,  by  the  advice  of  the  pope!     Henry  of  Navarre, 
excommunicated  by  the  pope,  and    persecuted  with  fire 
and  sword!      Henry   of  France  by  turns    caressed  and 
threatened  ;    at  last  advised  to    the  murder  of  his  re- 
bellious nobles,  and  then  cursed  by  the  pope,  and  murder- 
ed at  the  instigation  of  his  rebellious  subjects,  by  a  priest 
nnd' brother  of  the  same  order  with  the  pope;  who  Ipd 
formally  excommunicated  him,  and  who  thirty  days  after 
hie  death,  pronounced  a  panegyric  on   the  assasin  who 
slew  him!     And  yet  this  pope,  beyond  all    question  the 
worst  man  of  the  four — the  vicar  of  the  meek  and  lowly 
Jesus — the  infallible  head  of  the  only  church  of  God — the 
living  depository  of  the  stupendous  powers  of  pardoning 
or   condemning  the   souls  of  men — opening  or   shutting 
the  gates  of  heaven  and  hell! 

This  is  that   Sixtus,   who   not  by  the  power  of  great 
learning  and   profound  research;  nor  by  any  of  the  ordi- 


ORATION  OF  POPE  SIXTUS  V.,  &C.  75 

nary  modes  in  which  such  a  question  of  history  and 
philology  would  naturally  be  settled;  but  by  the  Infallible, 
spiritual  guidance  of  God  the  Spirit,  SETTLED  ;is  be  said, 
irrevocably,  and  as  we  know  falsely,  the  canon  of 
ipture  as  used  by  his  sect;  and  as  to  be  exclusively 
used  by  the  whole  world,  when  that  sect  should  be  par- 
amount. The  Clementine  edition  of  the  Vulgate,  false  it- 
self, if  it  had  conformed  to  their  own  standard,  in  con- 
taining, first,  hundreds  of  perversions  of  the  Scriptures; 
and  secondly  in  adding  to  it,  whole  books  never  inspired 
by  God,  (the  Apocrapha;)  was  afterwards  issued  when 
that  of  Sixtus  had  been  found  after  being  infallibly  pro- 
nounced the  only  true  copy,  to  contain  two  thousand 
errors  of  so  gross  a  kind,  as  to  require  the  whole  to  be 
suppressed!  So  that  the  seal  of  the  Holy  Ghost  set  for- 
ever to  a  false  and  corrupt  volume,  which  was  called  the 
Bible,  by  a  man  stained  with  the  most  atrocious  crimes, 
whom  the  papists  call  Christ's  vicar;  was  in  a  few  years 
erased  by  another  act  of  the  unchangeable  God,  done  in- 
fallibly by  another  unerring  head  of  the  only  infallible 
church!  And  so  stand  the  bulls  of  the  popes,  mutually 
asserting  their  own  glory,  and  mutually  cursing  the  work 
of  each  other;  all  infallibly,  by  the  immediate  presence 
and  power  of  God! 

A  TRANSLATION  QF  THE  ORATION  OF  SIXTUS  V.,  POPE 
OF  ROME,  AS  IT  WAS  UTTERED  IN  THE  CONSISTORY 
AT  ROME,  SEPTEMBER  2,  1589,  DEFENDING  THE  EX- 
ECRABLE FACT  OF  JAQUES  CLEMENT,  A  DOMINICAN 
FRIAR,  UPON  THE  PERSON  OF  HENRY  III.  XING  OF 
FRANCE,  TO  BE  BOTH  COMMENDABLE,  ADMIRABLE  AND 

meritorious.  ( See  Steele'*  s  Romish  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory. De  Thou,  book  96,  being  vol.  vii.  p.  495 — 6. 
Mezerai,  vol.  iii.  pp.  649 — 59.  Histoire  Des  Papes, 
vol.  vi.  p.  78. ) 

Considering  in  my  mind  both  often  and  earnestly,  and  bending  my 
thoughts  to  muse  upon  those  things,  which  by  the  providence  of  God, 
are  lately  come  to  pass;  methinks  I  may  rightly  usurp  that  saying  of  the 
prophet  Habakkuk,  a  work  is  done  in  your  days,  which  no  man  will 
believe  when  it  shall  he\reported.  The  King  of  France  is  done  to 
death,  by  the  hands  of  a  monk:  For  unto  this  it  may  fitly  be  applied, 
albeit  the  prophet  spake  properly  of  another  thing;  namely,   of  the  in- 


/O  ORATION    OF    POPE    SIXTUS   V. 

carnation  of  our  Lord,  which  exceedeth  all  wonders  and  marvels  what- 
soever; even  as  the  Apostle  Paul  doth  most  trulv  refer  the  very  same 
words  to  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  When  the  prophet  speaks  cf  a 
work,  he  will  not  be  understood  of  any  vulgar  or  ordinary  matter;  but 
of  some  rare,  some  famous  and  memorable  exploit.  As  where  it  is 
said  of  the  creation  of  the  world,  the  heavens  are  the  icorks  of  thy 
hands:  and  again,  the  seventh  day  he  rcstfd  frojn  all  the  works  which 
he  had  made.  Hut  where  he  baith,  it  is  done;  it  is  usual  in  Scripture, 
to  understand  such  a  thing  as  falleth  not  out  by  blind  chance,  by  hap- 
hazard, by  fortune,  or  at  all  adventures;  but  by  the  express  will,  provi- 
dence, disposition,  and  government  of  God.  As  when  our  Saviour  says, 
Ye  shall  do  the  works  ichich  I  do;  and  greater  than  these  shall  ye 
do;  and  many  such  like  places  in  Holy  Scripture. 

But  where  he  says  it  was  already  done,  he  speaks  after  the  manner  of 
the  prophets;  who,  for  the  certainly  of  the  event  are  wont  to  foretell  of 
things  to  come,  as  if  they  were  already  past.  For  the  philosophers  sav, 
that  things  past  are  in  nature  of  necessity,  things  present  in  a  state  of 
now  being,  and  things  to  come  to  be  merely  contingent;  that  is  their 
judgment.  In  regard  of  which  necessity,  the  prophet  Isaiah,  foretelling 
a  long  time  before  the  death  of  Christ,  said  even  as  after  it  was  said 
again;  He  ivas  led  as  a  sheep  to  the  slaughter;  and  as  a  lamb  be- 
fore the  shearers,  he  opened  not  his  mouth  And  such  a  thing  is  this 
whereof  we  now  treat.  This  which  hath  happened  in  these  our  days: 
a  work  famous,  memorable,  and  almost  incredible!  A  work  not  wrought 
without  the  special  providence  and  government  of  the  Almighty.  A 
monk  had  slain  a  king.  Not  a  painted  king,  one  figured  out  upon  a  piece 
of  paper,  or  upon  a  wall;  but  the  King  of  France,  in  the  middle  of  his 
army,  being  hedged  in  with  his  camp,  and  guarded  on  every  side. 
Which  indeed  is  such  a  work,  and  so  brought  about,  as  no  man  will  be- 
lieve it,  when  it  shall  be  reported,  and  posterity  perhaps  will  repute  it  for 
a  fable.  That  a  king  should  die,  or  should  be  slain,  men  are  easily  in- 
duced to  think  it.  But  that  he  could  thus  be  cut  off,  the  world  will  hard- 
ly believe  it.  As  that  Christ  should  be  born  of  a  woman,  we  do  easily 
acknowledge  it:  but  if  we  add  further,  that  he  was  born  of  a  virgin, 
my  human  wit  cannot  subscribe  unto  it.  Likewise  that  Christ  should  die, 
is  as  easily  believed;  but  being  dead  to  rise  again,  (because  that  to  a 
natural  habit  once  wholly  lost  there  is  no  retiring  back  again)  in  the 
reach  of  man's  capacity,  is  impossible,  and  by  consequence  incredible. — 
That  a  man  out  of  sleep,  out  of  his  sickness,  out  of  a  swoon,  or  of  an 
extacy  should  recover  himself  again,  (for  that  in  the  usual  course  of  na- 
ture such  things  are  usual)  in  human  reason  we  accord  unto  it  ;  but  a 
dead  man  to  rise  again,  in  the  judgement  of  the  flesh,  it  seemed  so  in- 
credible that  when  Paul  made  mention  thereof  amongst  the  Athenian 
philosophers,  they  upbraided  him  as  a  setter  forth  of  strange  gods, 
and  others,  as  Luke  roporteth,  laughed  at  him,  and  said,  IVe  will  hear 
thee  about  this  matter  again.  Therefore  in  such  things  as  are  not  wont 
to  fall  out  .according  to  the  custom  of  nature,  and  common  course  of  the 
world,  the  prophet  Baith,  that  no  man  will  believe  when  report  shell  be 
made  ;  but  vet  when  we  remember  God's  omnipotent  power  and  capti- 
vate our  understandings  to  the  obedience,  which  is  through  faith  and  to 
the  will  of  Christ,  we  are  brought  to  believe  ;  for  by  this  means,  that 
which  naturally,  was  incredible  is  become  credible.  Therefore  I,  who, 
according  to  man,  do  not  believe  that  Christ  was  born  of  a  virgin  :  yet, 


ON  THE  ASSASINATION   OF   HENRY    III.  /7 

when  it  is  further  added  that  it  w;»s  done  by  the  working  of  the  Holy 
.  above  the  compass  of  nature,  I  do  verily  assent  and  give  credit 
to  it.  And  when  it  is  s-aid  that  Christ  rose  again  from  the  dead,  accord- 
ing to  man's  wit,  I  cannot  yield  unto  it  ;  hut  when  it  is  said  again  that  it 
was  done  by  a  divine  nature  which  was  in  him,  then  do  I  most  assured- 
ly believe  it.  In  like  manner,  although  according  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
llesh  and  man's  understanding,  it  be  incredible,  or  at  least  very  impro- 
bable, that  so  mighty  a  prince  in  the  midst  of  his  camp,  so  guarded  with 
such  an  armed  troop  should  he  *laughtered  by  the  hands  of  one  poor 
sillv  friar  ;  vet  when  I  call  to  mind  on  the  other  side  the  most  heinous 
misdemeanor  of  the  king,  the  particular  providence  of  the  Almighty  rul- 
ing in  this  action  ;  and  how  strangely  and  wonderfully  God  executed  his 
most  just  decree  against  h:m,  then  do  I  verily  and  steadfastly  believe  it. 
For  why  ?  We  may  not  refer  so  notable  and  strange  a  work  to  any 
other  cause,  than  to  the  special  providence  of  God  (as  we  understand 
that  some  there  be  who  ascribe  it  to  other  ordinary  causes,  to  fortune 
and  chance,  or  some  other  such  like  accidental  events)  but  they  who 
narrowly  look  into  the  course  of  the  whole  preceedings,  may  clearly  see 
how  manv  :hings  were  brought  about,  which  without  the  special  supply 
of  Divine  assistance  could  never  be  achieved  of  any  man.  And  cer- 
tainly we  may  not  think  that  God  doth  loosely  govern  the  state  of  kings 
and  kingdoms,  and  other  so  excellent  and  weighty  affairs.  There  are  in 
the  holv  stories  of  the  Bible,,  examples  of  this  kind  to  none  whereof  we 
can  assign  any  other  author  than  God  ;  but  there  is  none  wherein  more 
clearly  shineth  the  superior  working  of  God,  than  this  which  now  we 
have  in  hand.  We  read  that  Eleazar,  to  the  end  he  might  destroy  the 
persecuting  king  and  enemy  of  God's  people,  did  put  himself  in  danger 
of  inevitable  death.  When  as  beholding  in  the  conflict  one  elephant 
more  conspicuous  than  the  rest,  upon  which  the  king  was  like  to  be, 
he  rushed  violently  amidst  thermit  of  the  enemies,  and  making  xcay 
on  both  sides,  came  to  the  beast,  got  under  him,  and  slew  him  with 
his  sword ;  ivhich  in  the  fall  fell  down  upon  him  and  crushed  him 
to  death.  And  here  for  zeal,  for-  valor  of  mind,  and  for  the  issue  of 
the  thing  attempted  we  find  some  resemblance  and  equality  ;  but  for  the 
rest  no  one  thing  comparable.  Eleazar  was  a  professed  soldier  trained 
up  in  arms,  and  in  the  field,  one  purposely  picked  out  for  the  battle  ;  as 
it  oft  falls  out  enraged  with  boldness  and  fury  of  mind  ;  whereas  our 
monk  was  never  brought  up  in  such  broils  and  martial  encounters,  but  by 
his  trade  of  life  so  abhorring  from  blood  that  happily  he  could  scarce 
endure  to  see  himself  let  blood.  He  knew  before  both  his  manner  of 
death  and  place  of  burial  ;  as  that  more  like  one  swallowed  up  into  the 
bowels  then  pressed  down  by  the  fall  of  the  beast,  he  should  be  en- 
tombed in  his  own  spoils.  But  this  man  was  to  look  for  both  death  and 
tortures  more  bitter  than  death,  such  as  he  could  not  dream  of,  and  lit- 
tle doubted  he  to  lie  unburied  ;  besides  many  other  points  of  difference 
that  are  between  them.  And  well  known  likewise  is  the  famous  story  of 
the  holy  woman  Judith,  who  to  set  free  her  own  besieged  city  and  peo- 
ple of  God,  took  in  hand  an  enterprize  (God  doubtless  directing  her  there- 
unto,) about  the  killing  of  Holofernes,  then  general  of  the  enemies'  for- 
ces, and  in  the  end  she  did  effect  it.  In  which  attempt,  although  there 
be  many  and  manifest  tokens  of  a  superior  direction  ;  yet  in  the  death 
of  this  king  and  deliverance  of  the  city  of  Paris,  we  may  see  far  greater 
arguments  of  God's  providence,  inasmuch  as  in  the  judgment  of  man  it 
7* 


78  ORATION    OF    POPE    S1XTUS  V. 

was  more  difficult  and  impossible  than  that :  for  that  holy  woman  open- 
ed her  purpose  to  souk,-  of  the  governors  and  in  their    presence,  and  by 

their  rafferance  passed  through  both  their  gates  and  guard  of  the1  city  ;  so 
that  she  could  he  in  no  d Anger  of  any  search  or  inquisition,  which  dur- 
ing the  time  of  assault  is  wont  to  he  so  straight,  that  scarce  a  fly  may  pass 
by  unexamined:  bat  being  amongst  the  enemies,  through  whose  tents, 
and  several  wards',  she  must  needs  pass  after  some  trial  and  examination, 
for  that  she  was  a  woman,  and  had  about  her  neither  letters  nor  weapons, 
from  whence    might   grow  anv    suspicion,  and    rendering    very    probable 

reasons  Cpt  her  coming  to  the  camp,  of  her  llight  and  departure  from  her 
countrymen,  she  was  licenced  to  pass  without  any  let;  so  that  as  well  for 
those  causes,  as  for  her  sex  and  excellent  beauty,  she  might  l»o  Admitted 
into  the  presence  of  so  unchaste  a  governor,  upon  whom  being  inl 
ted  with  wine,  she  might  easily  effect  her  purpose.  This  she  did.  But 
ours,  a  man  of  holy  orders,  did  both  essay  and  bring  about  a  work  of 
more  weight,  full  of  more  incumbrances,  and  wrapt  in  with  so  great  diffi- 
culties and  dangers  on  every  side,  as  it  could  be  accomplished  by  no 
wisdom,  nor  human  policy,  neither  by  any  other  means,  but  the  manifest 
appointment  and  assistance  of  God.  It  was  requisite  that  letters  of  com- 
mendation should  be  procured  from  them  of  the  contrary  faction;  it  was 
necessary  he  should  pass  out  by  the  gate  of  the  city  which  led  unto  the 
enemy'3  camp,  which  doubtless  was  so  warded  in  that  troublesome  time 
of  fcthe  siege,  that  nothing  was  unsuspected;  neither  was  any  man  suffer- 
ed to  pass  to  and  fro,  but  after  a  most  stict  enquiry  what  letters  he  con- 
veyed, what  news  he  carried,  what  business,  what  weapons  he  had. 
But  he,  (a  wondrous  thing)  passed  through  the  watches  without  examina- 
tion, and  that  with  letters  of  credence  to  the  enemy,  which  if  the  citizens 
had  intercepted,  without  reprieve  or  further  judgement,  he  had  surely 
died.  This  was  an  evident  argument  of  God's  providence.  But  a  great- 
er wonder  was,  that  the  same  man  soon  after,  without  any  examination 
at  all,  should  pass  through  the  enemy's  camp;  likewise  through  the  cen- 
tinels,  and  several  watches  of  the  soldiers,  and  through  the  guard  which 
was  next  the  body  of  the  king;  and,  in  a  word,  through  the  whole  army, 
which  for  the  most  part  was  made  up  of  heretics,  he  himself  being  a  man 
of  holy  orders,  and  clad  in  a  friar's  weed,  which  in  the  eyes  of  such  men 
was  so  odious,  that  in  the  places  adjoining  to  Paris,  which  a  little  before 
they  had  surprised,  whatsoever  monks  they  took  they  either  slaughtered 
or  else  most  cruelly  treated. 

Judith  was  a  woman,  therefore  no  whit  hated,  and  yet  often  examined, 
neither  carried  she  ought  about  her  which  might  endanger  her;  but  this 
man  was  a  monk,  and  therefore  detested  and  came  very  suspiciously  with 
a  knife  provided  for  the  feat,  and  that  not  closed  up  in  a  sheath,  (which 
had  been  more  excusable,)  but  altogether  naked  and  hid  in  Ids  sleeve, 
which  had  they  bolted  out,  there  had  been  no  way  but  present  execution. 
These  are  all  such  manifest  tokens  of  God's  special  providence,  as  no  ex- 
ception can  be  taken  against  them,  nor  could  it  otherwise  be,  but  that 
God  even  blinded  the  eyes  of  the  enemies  lest  they  should  descry  him; 
for  as  we  said  before,  although  some  there  are  who  unjustly  ascribe  those 
things  to  chance  and  fortune,  we  cannot  notwithstanding,  be  persuaded  to 
refer  them  to  any  cause  hut  to  the  will  of  God;  nor  truly  should  1  other- 
wise think,  but  that  1  have  subdued  my  understanding  to  obedience  in 
Christ,  who  after  SO  Wonderful  a  manner  provided  both  to  set  at  liberty 
the  city  of  Paris,  which   then  we   understood  to  be  many  ways  in  great 


ON'  THE  ASSISINATION  OF  HENRY  III. 

perplexity  and  d  heinous  misdeeds  of 

the  king,  and  to  take  him  out  of  the  world  by  so  unhappy  am! 
ful  a  death.      And  truly  w»_>  did  therefor  f  foretell,  thai  it 

would  in  time  fall  out  that  I  -  ike 

to  come  to  some  strange  and  shameful  end.  which  not  only  the  cardinals 
of  Joyeuse,  of  Lenencort  and  Paris,  but  the  ambassador  likewise,  who 
then  was  lieger  with  us.  can  well  vouch  I  spake.  For  why,  we  call  not 
the  dead,  but  men  alive  to  witness  of  our  words,  which  all  of  them  full 

-emember.  Notwithstanding  howsoever  we  are  now  forced  to  plead 
against  this  hapless  kin^.we  do  in  no  wise  touch  the  kingdom  and  royal  «tate 
of  France,  which  as  we  have  heretofore,  so  still  hereafter  will  we  prosecute 
with  ffection  and  honorable  regard  :   But  this  we  have  spoken 

of  the  king's  person  onlv.  whose  unfortunate  end  hath  deprived  him  of 
all  th  ich  this  holy  seat,  the  mother  of  all  the  faithful,  and  es- 

pecially of  Christian  princes,  is  wont  to  perform  to   emperors  and  kings 
-e,  which  for  him  likewise  we  had  solemnized,  but  that 
the  Scripture  in  such  a  case  doth  flatly  forbid  us.     There   is    (saith  St. 
John)  a  sin  unto  death.  I  say  not   for  that  any  m<  ay: 

which  may  be  understood  either  of  the  sin  itself,  as  if  he  should  say  for 
that  sin,  or  else  for  the  remission  of  that  sin,  I  will  not  that  any  man 
should  pray,  because  it  is  unpardonable;  or  that  which  sorteth  to  the 
same  end,  for  that  man  who  committeth  a  sin  unto  death.  1  will  not  that 
any  man  should  pray:  of  which  kind  likewise  our  Saviour  Christ  in  St. 
Matthew  makes  mention,  that  to  him  which  sinneth  against  the  Holy 
Ghost,  there  is  no  n  ither  in  this  world  or  in  the  world  to 

come;  where  he  maketh  three  sorts  of  sin.  against  the  Father,  against 
the  Son,  and  against  the  Holy  Ghost:  the  two  former  are  not  so  grievous 
but  pardonable,  but  the  third  is  not  to  be  forgiven.  All  which  difference 
(as  the  schoolmen  out  of  the  scriptures  deliver  it,)  ariseth  out  of  the  di- 
versity of  the  properties  which  are  severally  ascribed  to  the  several  per- 
sons of  the  Trinity.  For  although  as  there  is  the  same  essence,  so  there 
is  the  same  power,  wisdom  and  goodness  of  all  the  persons,  (as  we  learn 
out  of  the  creed  of  Athanasius.  when  he  saith.  the  Father  is  omnipotent, 
the  Son  omnipotent,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  omnipotent:)  yet  by  the  way 
of  attribution,  to  the  Father  is  ascribed  power,  to  the  Son  wisdom,  and 
to  the  Holv  Ghost  love;  each  whereof  as  they  are  called  properties,  are 
so  proper  10  everv  person  as  they  cannot  be  put  upon  another:  and  by 
the  contraries  of  these  properties  we  come  to  know  the  difference  and 
weight  of  sin.  The  contrary  c{  power  (which  is  the  attribute  of  the 
Father)  is  weakness:  so  that  whatsoever  we  commit  through  infirmity 
and  weakness  of  our  nature,  may  be  said  to  be  committed  against  the 

.  r.  The  contrary  of  wisdom  is  ignorance,  through  which  if  a  man 
offends,  he  is  said  to  offend  against  the  Son;  so  that  those  sins  which  are 
committed  either  through  man's  frailty  or  ignorance,  may  easily  obtain  a 
pardon.  But  the  third,  which  is  love,  the  property  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
hath  for  his  contrary  ingratitude  a  most  hateful  sin,  whereby  it  comes 
to  pass  that  man  doth  not  acknowledge  God's  love  and  benefits  towards 

.  but  forgetteth,  despiseth,  and  groweth  in  hatred  of  them,  and  so  at 
length  becometh  obstinate  and  impenitent:  and  this  way  men  offend  more 
grievously  and  dangerously  towards  God,  than  by  ignorance  and  infirmity; 
therefore  these  are  called  sins  against  the  Holy  Ghost:  which  because 
they  are  not  so  often  and  so  easily  forgiven,  and  not  without  a  greater 
measure  ef  grace,  they  are  reckoned  in  a  sort  unpardonable:  when  as 


SO  JUDGE  GASTON  OF  N.  CAROLINA. 

notwithstanding  only  by  mason  of  man's  impenitencv,  they  are  absolutely 
and  simply  unpardonable,  for  whatsoever  is  committed  in  this  life,  though 
it  be  against  the  Holy  Ghoflt,  yet  by  a  timely  repentance  it  may  be  blot- 
ted out;  but  he  that  pcrsevereth  to  the  end,  leaveth  no  place  for  grace 
and  mercy;  and  for  such  an  otlence,  or  for  a  man  so  offending,  that  apos- 
tle would  not  that  after  his  death  we  should  pray.  And  now  for  that 
unto  our  great  grief,  we  are  given  to  understand  that  the  aforesaid  king 
died  thus  impenitent)  as  namely,  amidst  a  knot  of  heretics,  (for  of  such 
people  he  had  mustered  out  an  army,)  and  likewise  for  that  upon  his 
death  bed  he  bequeathed  the  succession  of  his  kingdom  to  Navarre,  a 
pronounced  and  excommunicated  heretic,  and  even  at  the  last  point  and 
gasp,  he  conjured  both  him  and  such  like  as  were  about  him,  to  take 
vengeance  of  those  whom  he  suspected  to  be  the  authors  of  his  death; 
for  these  and  such  like  manifest  tokens  of  impenitency,  our  pleasure  is 
that  there  shall  no  dead  manV  rites  be  solemnized  for  him.  not  for  that 
we  do  in  any  sort  prejudice  the  secret  judgment  and  mercy  of  God  to- 
ward him,  who  was  able  according  to  his  good  pleasure,  even  at  the  very 
breathing  out  of  his  soul,  to  turn  his  heart  and  to  have  mercy  upon  him; 
bat  this  we  speak  according  to  that  which  came  into  the  outward  appear- 
ance. Our  most  bountiful  Saviour  grant  that  others  being  admonished 
by  this  fearful  example  of  God's  justice,  may  return  into  the  way  of  life, 
and  that  which  he  hath  thus  in  mercy  begun,  let  him  in  great  kindness 
continue  and  accomplish,  as  we  hope  he  will,  that  we  may  yield  unto 
him  immortal  thanks  for  delivering  his  church  from  so  great  mischiefs 
aud  dangers. 


NUMBER    X. 

JUDGE   GASTON    OF    N.    C, RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY — MEN- 
TAL   RESERVATION. 

William  Gaston,  now  one  of  the  Judges  of  the 
Court  of  Appeals  of  North  Carolina,  has  been  the  first 
within  our  knowledge  to  bring  before  the  American  peo- 
ple by  his  conduct,— the  momentous  questions  involved 
in  the  nature,  the  sanctity,  and  the  simple  integrity  of 
public  oaths, — when  administered  by  Protestants  to  Cath- 
olics. It  is  to  be  considered  fortunate  that  this  whole 
subject  has  come  up  in  connexion  with  the  name  and 
conduct  of  a  public  functionary,  whose  public  acts  are 
open  to  comment, — and  that  too,  a  man  of  acknowledge 


*JUDGE  GASTON  OF  N.  CAROLINA,  8l 

€(1  ability  and  great  private  worth.  We  escape  all  char- 
ges of  private  malevolence  ;  the  gentleman  implicated  is 
precluded  by  any  pretext  of  ignorance  or  incapacity  ;  and 
his  private  virtues,  acknowledged  by  his  countrymen, 
compel  us  to  charge  to  his  dreadful  religious  principles, 
rather  than  to  his  better  nature,  the  conduct,  which  it  is 
now  our  purpose  freely  to  examine.  It  is  now  (July  1835) 
over  six  months  since  the  material  facts  of  this  case,  were 
stated  publicly  before  a  thousand  persons  in  Baltimore ; 
and  the  wish  was  then  expressed  which  is  now  repeated, 
that  Judge  Gaston  might  feel  the  necessity  of  publicly 
explaining  his  conduct.  We  shall  use  our  best  efforts 
to  lay  this  publication  before  his  eyes. 

They  who  have  taken  any  interest  in  the  past,  know 
that  Mr.  Gaston  has  been  for  many  years  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  citizens  of  North  Carolina.  Excluded,  as 
was  all  along  supposed  by  the  facts  now'  to  be  exhibited, 
from  holding  any  civil  office  in  that  commonwealth;  he  has 
however  often  been  one  of  kcr  representatives  in  con- 
gress, and  long  one  of  her  most  abl-e  lawyers. 

In  one  of  the  numbers  of  a  periodical  work  now  in 
progress,  devoted  to  biographical  sketches  of  distinguish- 
ed Americans,  there  is  to  be  found  a  brief  notice  of  Mr. 
Gaston.  From  this  we  learn  by  authority,  it  is  to  be  pre- 
sumed, that  one  of  his  ancestors  was  a  French  Hugonot, 
expelled  his  country  along  with  all  that  was  most  lovely 
and  excellent  in  beautiful  France,  at  the  revocation  of  the 
edict  of  Nantz,  by  Louis  the  XIV.;  that  another  was 
an  Irish  Presbyterian  ;  that  his  mother  wras  a  Roman 
Catholic,  and  above  all  cares  deeply  instilled  into 
his  young  heart,  the  dogmas  of  her  faith.  In  short, 
that  the  degenerate  offspring  of  that  noble  pair  of  iaces, 
has  been  perverted  into  the  poor  gull  of  a  system,  which 
all  his  ancestors  abhorred,  and  the  humble  follower  of 
those  who  shed  like  water,  the  best  blood  he  inherits- 
Be  it  so.  Judge  Gaston, — chooses  to  be  a  papist ;  he  is 
free  to  be  so;  and  all  wise  men  will  pity  him. 

But  now  comes  the  difficulty.  By  the  constitution  of 
North  Carolina,  he  is  expressly  disqualified  to  hold  the 
office  he  occupies,  precisely  because  he  chooses  to  be  a 
Catholic.     In  the  XXXII.  article  it  is  thus  written:  '-That 


82         JUDGE  GASTON  OF  N.  CAROLINA.- 

no  person  who  shall  deny  the  being  of  God,  or  the 
truth  of  the  Protestant  RELiGinx,  or  the  divine  au- 
thority either  of  the  Old  or  New  Testaments,  or  ivho 
shall  hold  religious  principles  incompatible  with  the  free- 
dom and  safety  of  the  state,  shall  be  capable  of  holding 
any  office,  or  place  of  trust  or  profit,  in  the  civil  govern- 
ment within  this  state." — Now,  Mr.  Gaston  is  at  this 
moment,  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  North  Car- 
olina. Before  he  took  his  seat  on  the  bench,  he  took  an 
oath  in  some  usual  form,  to  support  the  constitution  of 
that  state.  Part  of  that  constitution  asserts  and  assumes 
the  truth  of  the  Protestant  religion.  But  Mr.  Gaston  is 
an  avowed  and  most  decided  papist ! — Now,  will  he  do 
himself  the  justice,  mankind  the  favour,  and  his  religion 
the  service  of  explaining  this  conduct  ?  Here  he  is  liv- 
ing in  the  practical  daily  duty,  voluntarily  undertaken  on 
oath,  to  maintain  that  which  involves  the  truth  of  the 
Protestant  religion  ;  wdiile  he  daily  professes  to  hold  and 
believe  every  word  and  tittle  that  is  protested  against — as 
also  true  and  binding. 

We  omit  any  extended  notice  of  that  part  of  the  arti- 
cle quoted  above,  wThich  disqualifies  all  persons,  "who 
shull  hold  religions  principles  incompatible  ivith  the  free- 
dom and  safeiy  of  the  stated  The  public  are  fully  aware 
that  for  three  hundred  years,  all  real  Protestants  have  be- 
lieved and  taught  that  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  papal 
church  wrere  incompatible  wTith  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
The  altar  and  the  throne  have  been  welded  together  for  a 
thousand  years :  and  the  oppression  of  the  bodies  and 
the  death  of  the  souls  of  men,  have  been  compassed  by 
the  united  hands  of  kings  and  priests.  This  discussion 
is  nowr  rife  in  our  own  land ;  and  we  simply  invite  our 
readers  to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  its  progress. 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  this  clause  in  the  constitution 
of  North  Carolina,  was  meant  and  supposed  to  exclude 
the  peculiar  principles  of  the  Roman  faith  ;  though  the 
nature  of  the  subject  renders  it  less  proper  for  this  occa- 
sion, than  the  clearer  preceding  enactment  in  the  same  ar- 
ticle. It  may  be  will  to  note  that  this  constitution  is  one 
of  our  very  earliest  American  plans  oi  free  government; 
that  it  was  formed  in  the   very  inception  of  our  national 


JUDGE  GASTON  OF  N.  CAROLINA.  83 

revolution  (being  adopted  in  December,  1776);  and  that 

it  was  the  work  in  part  of  the  same  bold,  wise  and  noble 
people,  a  part,  of  whom  met  at  a  distant  point  had  even 
before  others  were  ready  to  act  for  freedom,  as  eaih 
the  spring  of  1775,  publicly  declared  themselves  a  free 
people.  Neither  will  it  be  out  of  place  to  note  the  pre- 
vailing temper  of  that  period,  and  of  the  great  men  who 
illustrated  it  all  over  America.  The  following  extract  is 
taken  from  "An  Address  of  the  Continental  Congress  to 
the  people  of  Great  Britain,  dated  October  31,  1774." — 
(See  Journal  of  Continental  Congress,  in  4  vols.  1774  to 
1778,  vol.  1.  p.  30.)—  "And  by  another  act,  the  do- 
minion of  Canada  is  to  be  so  extended,  modelled  and 
governed,  as  that  by  being  disunited  from  us,  detached 
from  our  interests  by  civil  as  well  as  religious  prejudices, 

BY  THEIR  NUMBERS   DAILY     SWELLING    WITH    CATHOLIC 

emigrants  from  Europe,  and  by  their  devotion  to  an 
administration  so  friendly  to  their  religion,  that  they  mrght 
become  formidable  to  us,  and  on  occasion  be  fit  instru- 
ments in  the  hands  of  power,  to  reduce  these  ancient, 
free,  Protestant  colonies  to  the  same  state  of  slavery 
with  themselves."  *  *  *  "Nor  can  we  suppress  our 
astonishment  that  a  British  Parliament  should  ever  con- 
sent to  establish  in  that  country  a  religion  that  has 
deluged  your  island  in  blood,  and  dispersed  IM- 
PIETY, BIGOTRY,  PERSECUTION,  MURDER  AND  REBEL- 
LION through  every  part  of  the  icorld." — Commend- 
ing this  part  of  the  subject  to  those  who  are  so  dili- 
gent in  perverting  the  opinions  of  our  fathers  in  relation 
to  it  ;  we  pass  to  the  other  clause  of  the  article. 

Mr.  Gaston  has  sworn  to  maintain  "the  truth  of 
the  Protestant  religion  !"  He  has  sworn  to  main- 
tain a  constitution  which  disqualifies  him,  the  moment  he 
shall  udenythe  truth  of  the  Protestant  religion"  ;  and  yet 
he  is  confessedly  a  papist, — a  believer  in  all  the  neces- 
sary dogmas,  and  a  member  in  full  exercise  of  all  the  pri- 
vileges of  that  faith  which  the  creed  of  pope  Pius  IV. , 
pronounces  to  be  exclusive  not  only,  but  indispensable  to 
salvation  :  that  church  which  declares  itself  to  be,  and 
which  all  who  repeat  i^>  creed,  promise  and  swear  to 
maintain — as  the  "mother  and  mistress"  of  all  churches 


Si  JUDGE  GASTON  OF  N.  CAROLINA, 

— and  to  use  all  diligence  by  all  means  in  their  power  to 
spread  all  around  them.  In  the  name  of  common  hon- 
esty, how  could  Judge  Gaston  assent  to  pope  Pius  IV. 
creed,  which  is  the  authorised  creed  of  his  church;  and 
at  the  same  time  assent  to  the  provision  quoted  above  from 
the  constitution  of  North  Carolina?  Can  a  man  swear 
with  a  good  conscience,  to  opposite  facts,  statements  and 
opinions? 

This  is  a  matter  now  widely  discussed  in  private  cir- 
cles throughout  a  large  part  of  North  Carolina.  Many 
members  elected  to  the  convention  now  in  session  at 
Rai*eigh,  to  amend  the  constitution  of  that  state,  are 
pledged  to  the  people  not  to  vote  for  any  change  in  regard 
to  this  subject ;  that  is  to  retain  the  XXXII.  section  quot- 
ed above.  We  are  ourselves  the  friends  of  the  most 
ample  religious  freedom  ;  and  although  some  of  the  most 
enlightened  men  and  states  in  past  ages,  have  declared 
that  the  toleration  of  the  Roman  faith  is  utterly  incom- 
patible with  the  freedom  of  states, — we  would  prefer  to 
retain  this  noble  feature  of  American  liberty,  and  indulge 
to  all,  even  the  right  to  think  wrong.  If  however,  the 
people  of  North  Carolina  retain  this  feature  of  their  pre- 
sent system  ;  the  papists  and  Judge  Gaston  in  particular, 
have  to  thank  themselves,  and  him  especially,  for  the  gen- 
eral indignation  roused  against  their  pernicious  princi- 
ples. 

We  have  been  curious  to  know  how  it  was  possible  for 
a  man  who  regarded  the  good  opinion  of  mankind — to 
defend  such  conduct.  It  is  one  thing  to  satisfy  a  per- 
verted moral  sense,  and  act  accordingly  ;  and  it  is  quite 
another  thing  to  lay  open  before  the  world  the  secret  rules 
of  such  conduct.  In  such  cases,  a  good  pretext  is  an  in- 
valuable jewel.  But  in  this  case,  after  much  enquiry 
and  consideration,  we  are  unable  to  contrive  even  a  toler- 
ably decent  excuse  for  the  conduct  of  Judge  Gaston ; 
and  there  lore  repeat  the  expression  of  our  desire  to  hear 
him  speak  for  himself.  In  the  mean  time,  the  double 
duty  of  justice  to  him,  and  to  the  great  interests  involved 
in  his  conduct,  may  require  of  us  the  suggestion  of  the 
several  explanations — which  have  been  mentioned  to  us, 
as  urged  by  himself.  • 


JUDGE  GASTON  OF  N.  CAROLINA.  85 

It  has  been  repeatedly  stated  by  persons  extenuating 
Judge  Gaston's  conduct,  that  although  the  constitution  of 
his  state  was  doubtless  meant  to  exclude  him  ;  yet  in 
fact,  the  clause  that  was  supposed  to  do  so  was  a  dead 
letter,  and  so  considered.  Now,  this  is  hardly  true;  for 
his  acting  as  he  has  done,  is  producing  immense  excite- 
ment ;  and  as  far  as  is  known, — the  clause  in  question 
almost  perfectly  accomplished  its  object  for  more  than 
fifty  years  ;  he  being  amongst  the  very  few,  if  not  the  only 
papist  who  ever  evaded  it.  But  if  true,  the  defence 
would  only  prove  that  Mr.  Gaston  considered  a  man  at 
liberty  to  swear  to  what  he  neither  believed  nor  meant  to 
do,  merely  because  many  had  done  so  before,  and  many 
others  connived  at  it.     This  will  never  do. 

Again,  it  has  been  often  stated  that%  Mr.  Gaston  de- 
fends himself  by  saying,  that  although  the  constitution 
of  North  Carolina  might  be  considered  as  very  clearly 
intending  to  exclude  papists — yet  in  point  of  fact,  as  no 
tribunal  had  been  erected  to  decide  what  the  c<  Protestant 
religion"  was,  nor  any  authorised  definition  of  it  given; 
the  constitution  is  necessarily  inoperative  from  its  vague- 
ness,— or  at  least  no  man  is  bound  to  take  heed  to  what 
it  may  have  intended.  This  is  simply,  if  true,  making 
the  usual  technical  distinction  between  perjury  and  false 
swearing  ;  and  while  it  might  exonerate  a  man  from  the 
former,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  a  conscientious  man  could 
take  an  oath,  which  is  sworri  in  a  sense  different  from 
that  which  he  knows  wTas  meant  and  will  be  understood. 
The  doctrine  of  mental  reservation  is  one  ingrained  into 
the  heart  of  popery.  But  surely  there  are  some  things 
which,  as  no  man  knows  better  than  Mr.  Gaston, — may 
be  taken  and  considered  as  universally  known ;  some 
things  which  all  tribunals  are  presumed  to  knowr,  and 
presume  all  others  to  know  ;  and  all  society  proceeds  on 
:his  admitted  truth.  Then  we  pass  by  the  child-like 
simplicity,  which  left  this  gentleman  in  total  ignorance  of 
what  could  possibly  be  meant  by  the  Protestant  religion, 
in  a  land  almost  exclusively  Protestant,  as  his  state  was; 
supposing  that  all  who  can  wT ill  believe  it  out  of  polite- 
ness. We  ask,  is  it  a  just  rule  of  Christian  morals,  for 
Tien  to  swear  at  peradventure, — avouching  they  know 
8 


86  JUDGE  GASTON  OF  N.  CAROLINA. 

not  what  ?  Mr.  Gaston  was  not  obliged  to  take  this  oath; 
he  loner  refused  to  be  placed  in  circumstances  that  would 
compel  him  to  it ;  he  was  under  no  obligation  to  be  a 
judge,  a  thousandth  part  as  strong  as  the  obligation  all 
are  under  to  be  certain  as  to  what  they  swear.  It*  a 
Christian,  nay,  it"  a  man  of  honour  take  an  oath  volun- 
tarily, it  is  a  most  futile  thing  lor  him  afterwards  to  say 
the  oath  was  so  vague  it  meant  nothing,  or  so  inartificial 
it  did  not  force  him  to  mean  what  he  was  understood  to 
mean.  The  fact  however  is  all  the  other  way.  For  as 
lately  as  June  1,  1833,  a  pamphlet  was  addressed  "  To 
the  Freemen  of  North  Carolina"  by  Win.  II.  Hayicard, 
jun.,  Richard  M.  Pearson,  Romulus  M.  Saunders,  and 
Thomas  Dews,  jun.,  the  object  of  which  was  to  enforce 
the  necessity  of  a  call  of  a  convention  to  amend  the  con- 
stitution of  North*  Carolina.  These  gentlemen  say,  (on 
page  11,)  that  they  represent  "a  respectable  body  of  the 
people  and  their  representatives  ;"  and  one  of  their  dis- 
tinct grounds  of  appeal  against  the  then  existing  consti- 
tution is  as  they  say  on  page  5,  the  existence  of  "an  odi- 
ous restriction  on  conscience ,"  in  the  XXXII.  Section. — 
And  so,  out  of  IX.  heads  of  amendment  proposed  by 
them  to  the  people— one  (the  VII.  one)  is  the  abolition  of 
that  XXXII.  Section.  It  would  then  appear  to  be  worse 
than  folly  to  pretend,  that  in  that  community  this  section, 
be  it  good  or  bad,  was  not  well  understood,  and  fully  and 
commonly  admitted  to  contain  a  real,  distinct,  intelligible 
proposition  ;  one  which  excluded  papists  from  civil  office  ; 
and  which  Mr.  Gaston  nevertheless  bein^  and  continuing 
a  papist,  took  and  ought  to  explain. 

There  is  a  third  defence  more  extraordinary  than  both 
the  others,  which  is  the  most  commonly  set  up  in  conver- 
sation in  defence  of  this  gentleman.  "I  believe,"  says 
he,  as  his  defenders  report,  UI  believe  in  the  truth  of  the 
Protestant  religion, — but  I  believe  much  more.  I  be- 
lieve all  that  constitutes  that  religion,  but  I  also  believe 
many  things  besides — which  constitute  the  peculiarities 
of  my  own,  that  is,  the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  The 
one  is  to  the  other  as  seven  is  to  twenty."  These  words 
have  more  than  once  been  repeated  to  us  by  citizens  of 
North  Carolina,  as  having  dropped  in  their  hearing  from 


JUDGE  GASTON  OF  N.  CAROLINA.  87 

Mr.  Gaston's  lips.  We  do  not  of  course  vouch  for  this; 
indeed  we  rather  presume  there  must  be  a  great  mistake; 
for  the  thing  is  grossly  absurd,  as  well  as  totally  impossi- 
ble. The  most  superficial  reader  knows  that  the  very  es- 
sence of  the  difference  between  the  reformed  religion 
and  that  of  Rome,  is  involved  in  the  term — protestant. 
In  the  origin  of  the  reformation,  the  name  was  first  given 
to  those  who  is  1529,  protested  against  a  decree  of  the 
diet  of  Spires,  over  which  presided  Ferdinand,  brother 
to  Charles  V.;  which  repealed  all  the  concessions  made 
to  the  reformers  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  former 
diet,  and  prohibited  all  change  in  the  doctrine,  discipline 
or  worship  of  the  church  of  Rome,  until  a  general  coun- 
cil should  meet  and  decide  the  questions.  Against  this 
decree,  John,  elector  of  Saxony;  George,  elector  of 
Brandenburg,  with  four  other  princes,  and  thirteen  impe- 
rial cities  solemnly  protested.  (See  Mosheim's  Ch.  Hist. 
vol.  iii.  p.  57.)  Thus  the  doctrine,  discipline  and  wor- 
ship, with  the  oppression  and  iniquity  practised  to  uphold 
them  by  the  Romish  church,  were  directly  denounced  by 
the  very  first  Protestants.  And  who  does  not  know, 
(except  Judge  Gaston,)  that  the  reformed  have  for  three 
hundred  years,  been  as  well  known  by  the  name  Protes- 
tant, as  his  own  brethren  by  the  name  Catholic  ?  But 
this  is  a  most  useless  argument — for  if  Protestants  may 
be  allowed  to  be  judged  by  the  bulls  of  popes,  and  the 
dscisions  of  councils  and  the  standard  writers  of  the  pa- 
pal sect — we  are  one  and  all  most  gross  heretics  ;  and  if 
bishop  England  had  his  way,  he  would  we  doubt  not,  put 
judge  Gaston  in  the  inquisition  if  he  honestly  held  to 
our  opinions,  faith  and  practice.  If  on  the  other  hand, 
our  own  standards  be  permitted  to  express  our  own  opin- 
ions, we  all,  of  all  the  evangelical  sects,  profess  to  differ 
most  radically  from  Rome.  The  Formularies  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly,  held  by  the  Presbyterian  church 
in  a  form  more  or  less  modified,  wherever  she  exists  on 
earth,  not  only  repudiate  the  doctrines  of  Rome,  but  call 
the  pope  anti-Christ,  and  his  church  the  synagogue  of 
satan.  (See  chap.  xxv.  sect.  5  &  6  of  the  const,  of  the 
Pres.  ch.  in  the  U.  S.)  But  if  it  is  preferred  to  resort  to  a 
prelatical  church  for  proof,  the  XXXIX.   articles  of  the 


88  JUDGE  GASTON  OF  N.  CAROLINA. 

Episcopal  church  are  still  harder  on  the  pope  and  judge 
Gaston,  even  thai)  all  the  rest.  In  the  XIX.  article  they 
say,  "the  churrli  of  Rome  hath  erred,  not  only  in  their 
living  and  manner  of  ceremonies,  but  also  in  matters  of 
faith."  In  the  XXII.  thus,  "the  Romish  doctrine  con- 
cerning PURGATORY,  PARDONS,  WORSHIPPING  and  ADOR- 
ATION as  well  of  IMAGES  as  of  RELIQUES,  and  also  in- 
vocation of  saints  is  a  fond  thin  g  vainly  invented,  and 
grounded  upon  no  warrant  of  scripture,  but  rather  r< pug- 
nant  to  the  word  of  God:"  The  XXIII.  denounces  the 
popish  use  of  an  unknown  language  in  the  public  wor- 
ship of  God  ;  the  XXIV.,  declares  that  the  five  extra  sa- 
craments of  Rome,  and  the  processions  of  the  host  are 
false,  and  in  part  corrupt ;  the  XXVIII.  expressly  denies 
transubstantiation, — which  the  council  of  Trent  ex- 
pressly before-hand  curses  them  and  all  others  for  doing  ; 
the  XXXI.  article  says,  "the  sacrifice  of  masses,  in 
which  it  was  commonly  said  that  the  priest  did  offer 
Christ  for  the  quick  and  the  dead  to  have  remission  of 
pain  or  guilt,  were  blasphemous  fables  and  danger- 
ous deceits:"  And  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  chapter  ! 
Now  when  Judge  Gaston  calls  to  mind  the  fact,  that  the 
council  of  Trent,  the  last  and  most  important  of  the  gen- 
eral councils  of  his  church,  explicitly  anathematised  all 
the  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  Protestants;  and  that  that 
famous  body  actually  adjourned  their  sessions  finally 
after  eighteen  years  of  deliberation,  amidst  hearty,  re- 
peated and  unanimous  execrations  upon  all  the  heretics 
in  the  world  ;  wThen  he  remembers  that  in  the  creed  based 
upon  the  decrees  of  this  council,  all  its  doings  are  af- 
firmed, arid  all  persons  cursed  by  it,  distinctly  damned 
over  again  in  terms, — with  the  solemn  addition  on  oath, 
to  hold,  believe  and  propagate  these  things  to  the  end  of 
life ; — really  we  cannot  see  how  he  could  say,  "he  be- 
lieves what  the  Protestants  believe," — any  more  than  we 
can  understand  how  he  can  be  a  candid  Catholic,  and 
yet  fairly  sware  to  support  a  constitution  which,  in  terms, 
requires  the  belief  of  the  truth  of  the  Protestant  religion. 
It  seems  to  u^,  if  this  gentleman  regards  his  own  high  re- 
putation, he  must  seek  better  defences  than  these. 

Judge  Gaston  must  be  aware  that  there  are  many  peo- 
ple in  the  world  who  know  little  of  him,  many  who  care 


JUDGE   O ASTON   OF  N.    CAROLINA.  89 

nothing  about  him  personally,  and  some  perhaps  who 
may  not  care  to  exhibit  dislike  towards  him.  He  may 
perhaps,  therefore,  suppose  it  was  an  enein\  who  said  that 
when  he  was  applied  to  by  his  friends  to  know  if  he  could 
take  this  extraordinary  oath,  it"  they  procured  for  him 
the  appointment  which  he  now  holds;  he  replied  evasive- 
ly, asked  time  for  consideration,  came  on  to  this  city 
(Baltimore,)  and  from  this  place  wrote  that  he  would 
lake  the  prescribed  oath — and  accordingly  was  appoint- 
ed and  did  swear. 

This  statement  has  been  repeatedly  heard  by  us;  and 
while  we  do  not  pretend  to  assert  its  truth,  it  appears 
quite  as  reasonable,  and  as  likely  to  solve  the  case  to  the 
honour  of  the  party  most  concerned,  as  any  other  we 
have  heard.  This  city  is  the  seat  of  the  archiepiscopal 
power  of  the  papacy  in  the  U.  States.  The  right  to  take 
oaths  in  a  false  sense  ;  to  break  oaths,  when  taken  to 
heretics  especially;  to  swear,  and  then  to  get  a  dispen- 
sation not  to  keep  what  is  sworn  to  ; — to  get  dispensa- 
tions to  swear  to  any  thing  for  the  good  of  the  church, 
or  to  break  anything  sworn  to  ;  these  and  such  doctrines, 
privileges  and  powers  have  for  centuries  been  part  of  the 
orthodox  faith  of  the  papal  church  ;  and  amongst  the 
Jesuits,  who  are  supreme  in  America, — the  universal 
practice  as  well  as  belief.  More  than  four  hundred  years 
ago,  the  council  of  Constance  burnt  John  Huss,  though 
he  had  the  emperor's  safe  conduct  expressly  to  go  to  and 
return  from  the  council.  But  the  holy  fathers  coolly  laid 
it  down  as  settled  law  and  morality,  that  as  no  faith  ought 
to  be  kept  with  heretics,  the  perjury  wrould  be  in  the 
keeping  not  the  breaking  of  an  oath.  And  such  is  the 
current  morality  of  the  papacy.  We  mean  no  offence 
then,  but  the  contrary  so  far  as  Judge  Gaston  is  person- 
ally implicated,  when  we  say  we  think  it  not  more  un- 
likely that  he  got  a  dispensation  to  take  the  oath  in  ques- 
tion, than  that  he  should  attempt  to  defend  the  taking  of 
it,  on  the  preposterous  grounds  on  which  others  have 
placed  his  justification. 

In  fine,  what  can  excuse  such  an  act?  What  can  be 
said  evil  enough  of  a  religion,  that  would  not  only  allow 
but  seduce  an  honourable  mind  into  the  perpetration  of  it? 


90 
NUMBER    XI. 

AN    ADDRESS    TO    THE    AMERICAN    TEOPLE. 

Hon.  Mr.  Gaston  of  N.  C. — Catholic   Perfidy. — Prosti- 
tution of  the  public  press. 

Being  on  the  eve  of  departing  from  the  United  States, 
in  discharge  of  a  public  duty  committed  to  my  hands  bj 
that  branch  of  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  which  1  am 
a  member;  I  feel   myself  imperatively  bound  by  a   Bense 

of  what  is  due  to  myself,  as  well  as  to  the  cause  of  truth 
and  public  morality,  to  lay  before  my  countrymen  the  fol- 
lowing correspondence.  For  I  am  well  aware  that  the 
same  religious  principles  wThich  teach  men  to  swear  false- 
ly, and  keep  no  faith  with  those  who,  as  they  say,  have 
no  faith;  will  prompt  those  who  are  so  tardy  and  reluctant 
to  speak  even  in  necessary  explanation  when  I  am  pre- 
sent and  ready  to  reply,  to  be  bold  and  prompt  even  in 
attack,  when  I  am  far  away.  Nor  can  I  doubt,  that  the 
prostitution  of  the  public  press  to  the  Catholic  supersti- 
tion, wThich  has  wTought  me  so  much  injury,  though  so 
great  injustice,  in  despite  of  all  my  personal  efforts  to 
the  contrary;  will  lend  itself  to  the  same  designs  in  cir- 
cumstances more  favorable  to  success. 

I  have  then  solemnly  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
American  people  to  the  facts  established  by  the  following- 
papers;  which  go  far  to  show — 1.  That  the  Roman  Oa- 
tholic  religion  not  only  admits,  but  approves  of  false 
swearing,  when  papists  can  gain  any  advantage  thereby: 
2.  That  the  political  newspapers  of  the  day,  to  some  exti 
applaud  this  tremendous  principle;  and  to  a  still  greater 
extent,  are  grossly  subservient  to  the  religious  sect  which 
teaches  and  practices  it! 

The  attention  of  the  reader  is  directed  first,  to  the  letter 
<~f  Judge  Gaston  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  introduc- 
tory remarks  which  precede  it;  both  of  which  are  taken 
from  the  LEXINGTON  (Va.)  Gazette,  of  February  5th, 
1836.     They  follow:— 

Hon.  Wm,  Gaston. — The  reader  will  find  below,  a  letter  fioni  this 
gentleman  to  the  editor  of  this  paper,  on  the  subject  of  the  charge  pre- 
ferred against  him  by  "Senex,"  of  procuring  from  the  bishop  of  Bait)* 


AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE   AMERICA*  PKOPLE.  91 

more,  an  ecclesiastical  permission  to  hold  an  office  under  the  state  of  N. 
Carolina,  which  the   constitution  of  that  State  expressly  disqualified  him 

from  holding — in  other  words,  authorizing  him  to  commit  pirjury;  for 
the  judge  could  not  enter  upon  the  duties  of  the  office  without  first  swear- 
ing to  support  the  State  constitution. 

\\ re  wish  our  motives  in  publishing  this  letter  to  he  distinctly  understood. 
We  do  not  publish  it  for  any  bearing  it  may  have  upon  the  questions 
heretofore  in  controversy  between  Senex  and  ourselves:  that  is  altogether 
incidental  and  undesigned.  We  publish  it  simpl)  from  a  sense  of  justice 
to  Judgu  Gaston — to  the  elevated  station  he  occupies,  and  to  the  State  of 
North  Carolina  which  has  conferred  that  station  upon  him,  and  whose 
fame  is  involved  in  that  of  her  sons.  Our  paper  has  been  made  the  ve- 
hicle of  a  calumny:  it  is  proper  therefore,  that  it  should  he  made  the 
vehicle  also  of  the  refutation  of  that  calumny. 

We  had  hoped  to  have  been  spared  the  necessity  of  publishing  this 
letter.  "Senex"  knows  that  we  employed  the  only  means  in  our  power 
to  absolve  us  from  the  necessity — but  unfortunately  without  success. 

We  do  not  mean  by  any  thing  we  have  said,  to  reflect  in  the  slightest 
degree,  upon  the  conduct  of  "Senex"  in  making  this  charge.  His  error 
we  sincerely  believe  was  one  purely  of  the  head,  such  as  we  are  all 
liable  to  commit. 

The  letter  must  satisfy  every  candid  mind  that  the  charge  is  wholly 
unfounded.  The  Judge's  positive  denial  would  be  sufficient  to  prove  this, 
particularly  as  the  evidence  by  which  it  is  attempted  to  be  sustained  is  of 
the  very  weakest  character. 

All  who  know  Judge  Gaston,  know  that  his  character  is  without  re- 
proach and  above  suspicion.  The  high  and  most  responsible  station 
which  he  occupies  by  the  election  of  his  Protestant  fellow  citizens 
with  whom  he  has  spent  his  life,  shows  that  his  character  is  without  a 
stain.  If  the  charge  is  true,  the  Judge  is  not  only  a  liar  and  a  perjured 
scoundrel,  but  a  "fool"  too,  for  if  the  facts  which  lie  states  are  not 
true,  would  it  not  be  the  height  of  folly  in  him  to  publish  them  to  the 
world  when  their  falsity  can  so  easily  be  established?  Would  he  not 
thus  furnish  unequivocal  evidence  of  his  guilt?  And  that  too,  to  persons 
who  would  seize  upon  it  with  ferocious  avidity?  But  with  those  who 
question  the  Judge's  veracity  we  have  no  argument.  The  letter  itself 
bears  upon  its  face  convincing  proof  of  his  candour.  We  commend  it 
*o  our  readers. 

Raleigh,  December  29th,  1835. 

Sir. — I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  yesterday,  and  not  before,  your 
letter  of  the  17th  of  October  addressed  to  me  at  this  place.  The  num- 
ber of  the  Lexington  Gazette,  referred  to  in  the  letter  as  accompanying 
it,  was  forwarded  to  Newbern,  the  place  of  my  residence,  some  time 
since.  In  consequence  of  the  editorial  article  in  the  Gazette,  I  caused 
to  be  transmitted  to  you  two  newspapers  containing  a  speech  which  I 
mad<i  in  our  late  State  Convention.  I  presume  that  you  have  received 
these,  and  that  they  furnish  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  facts  about  which 
you  enquire. 

The  publication  to  which  the  editorial  article  is  an  answer,  I  have  not 
met  with.  From  the  nature,  however,  of  that  answer,  I  infer  that  it  con- 
tains a  vile  charge  of  my  having  obtained  some  ecclesiastical  dispensa- 
tions or  permission  to  hold  an  office  under  the  State  of  North  Carolina, 


92  AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

and  relieving  me  from  the  guilt  of  perjury  in  violating  my  oath  to  sup- 
port the  Constitution  of  the  State.  I  know  that  a  charge  to  this  effect 
bad  heen  made  in  a  periodical  work  published  at  Baltimore,  called  (I 
think)  "The  Religious  and  Literary  iSlagazine,"  for  not  long  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  convention,  and  while  I  was  yet  here  occupied  with 
the  duties  of  the  supreme  court,  a  copy  of  the  Magazine  containing  such 
an  accusation  was  sent  on  to  me,  and  as  I  suppose  by  the  conductors  of 
the  work.  It  is  not  easy  to  determine  when  it  is  proper  to  come  forth 
with  a  denial  of  a  calumnious  charge,  arid  when  it  it  most  becoming  to 
treat  it  with  silent  contempt.  The  accusation  in  question  seemed  to  me 
so  preposterous — so  ridiculous — that  it  was  scarcely  possible  for  me  to 
notice  it  gravely,  without  subjecting  myself  to  ridicule  or  the  manifesta- 
tion of  a  morbid  sensibility.  But  I  was  saved  from  all  difficulty  in  de- 
ciding on  the  course  then  to  be  pursued.  The  style  of  the  article  was 
so  uncourteous,  and  the  temper  which  it  breathed  so  malignant,  that  self 
respect  utterly  forbade  me  from  paying  any  notice  to  it. 

But  your  enquiries,  sir,  are  evidently  prompted  by  a  sincere  desire  to 
know  the  truth,  and  made  in  a  manner  that  demands  my  respectful  con- 
sideration. If  therefore  it  will  afford  you  any  satisfaction  to  have  my 
peremptory  denial  of  the  accusation,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  stating  that 
it  is  wholly  false.  It  is  no  doubt  but  a  mere  repetition  of  the  Baltimore 
slander,  and  that  professes  to  be  mainly  founded  on  the  asserted  fact — 
that  I  withheld  my  assent  to  be  put  in  nomination  for  the  office  of  judge 
until  after  I  had  visited  Baltimore.  This  allegation  is  itself  utterly  false. 
My  lamented  friend  Chief  Justice  Henderson  died  in  August,  1833.  In 
a  few  days  afterwards  I  was  informed  of  the  occurrence,  and  urged  by 
gentlemen  of  the  highest  standing  in  the  State,  upon  public  grounds,  to 
permit  myself  to  be  considered  as  willing  to  accept  the  vacant  office  if  it 
should  please  the  legislature  to  confer  it.  Strong  reasons  were  also  pre- 
sented for  pressing  an  early  decision.  There  were  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  an  immediate  determination,  but  these  had  no  connection  whatever 
with  constitutional  scruples.  I  had  occasion  but  a  short  time  before  to  ex- 
amine for  myself  and  to  seek  the  best  counsel  to  examine  the  disqualifica- 
tions for  office  which  some  supposed  the  constitution  denounced  against 
the  professors  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  I  was  satisfied  that  my  re- 
ligious principles  did  not  incapacitate  me  from  taking  the  office.  But 
there  were  personal  considerations  which  compelled  delay.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  set  these  forth — but  that  which  was  last  removed  arose  from  pe- 
cuniary engagements  which  I  had  contracted,  and  which  I  feared  the 
great  sacrifice  of  emolument  that  would  follow  on  quitting  the  bar  might 
disable  me  punctually  to  comply  with.  Justice,  honour  required  that  a 
satisfactory  arrangement  of  these  matters  should  be  concluded  before  I 
consented  to  be  removed  from  the  bar  to  the  bench.  This  was  done  by 
an  early  day  in  September,  and  then  I  gave  my  written  consent  to  be 
nominated  for  the  vacant  office,  and  my  permission  that  this  determina- 
tion night  be  publicly  known. 

A  very  laborious  fall  circuit  closed  in  the  first  week  of  November. 
From  it  I  went  on  a  long  promised  visit  to  see  my  danghter,  who  was 
settled  in  New  York.  1  travelled  by  Norfolk  and  Baltimore,  and  passed 
one  day  at  the  latter  place,  and  as  well  as  I  recollect,  one  only.  It  had 
been  supposed  by  several  who  took  a  deep  interest  in  my  receiving  the 
appointment,  that  it  would  be  bestowed  without  opposition.  They  had 
afterwards  ascertained  that  this  was  a  mistaken  opinion,  and  had  inform- 


AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE.  93 

ed  me  before  1  left  Carolina  that  doubts  had  been  expressed  on  the  con- 
stitutional question,  and  dilliculties  railed  about  it.  Having  an  hour  of 
leisure  when  at  Baltimore,  I  wrote  to  one  of  my  zealous  friends  residing 
at  Raleigh,  stating  the  views  which  1  had  taken  of  the  constitutional 
question,  and  authorising  him  to  give  publicity  to  them,  that  their  cor- 
rectness might  be  judged  of.  I  have  understood,  and  have  no  doubt  of 
the  fact,  that  this  letter  was  rend  bv  my  friend  at  his  table  in  the  presence  of 
several  distinguished  gentlemen,  among  others  the  great  and  good  John 
Marshall,  and  that  copies  of  it  were  taken.  This  is  the  letter  which  lias 
afforded  the  pretext  for  the  falsehood  (I  hope  a  falsehood  through  mistake) 
that  my  assent  to  be  put  in  nomination  had  been  withheld  until  after  I 
reached  Baltimore. 

It  is  needless  surely  for  me  to  go  further — but  I  will  add,  that  I  never 
had  any  intercourse,  verbal  or  written,  direct  or  indirect,  with  the  bishop 
of  Baltimore  on  the  subject — and  that  I  did  not  directly  or  indirectly 
confer  with  any  individual  belonging  or  professing  to  belong  to  the  Ca- 
tholic church,  upon  the  subject  (out  of  my  own  immediate  household) 
until  after  I  had  announced  my  unconditional  assent  to  be  put  in  nomina- 
tion for  the  office. 

What  use  you  may  make  of  this  communication  I  leave  entirely  to 
your  sense  of  propriety.  It  is  not  a  pleasant  matter  for  any  man  of 
character  or  feeling  to  have  a  discussion  entertained  on  the  question  wheth- 
er he  has  or  has  not  acted  as  a  scoundrel  and  a  fool — and  I  regard  the 
wantonness  with  which  men's  characters  are  dragged  before  the  public; 
the  facility  with  which  slanders  are  credited,  and  the  rashness  with  which 
unfounded  imputations  are  attributed  by  political  or  sectarian  rancor,  as 
among  the  worst  vices  of  the  age.  If  any  public  motive  should  require 
that  the  miserable  calumny  to  which  I  have  referred  should  be  contradict- 
ed or  repelled,  you  have  here  my  authority  for  so  doing.  But  as  it 
respects  myself  personally,  1  cannot  but  belivethat  a  life  of  nearly  three- 
score years  has  established  for  me  a  character  such  as  it  is,  that  does  not 
require  to  be  defended  or  propped.  I  could  wish  therefore  that  I  might 
be  permitted  to  pass  the  remainder  of  my  days  in  the  quiet  discharge  of 
my  duties,  and  that  no  further  notice  should  be  taken  of  this  contempti- 
ble falsehood.  You  will  however  act  in  relation  to  it  as  your  judgment 
shall  direct. 

With  very  respectful  sentiments,  I  am  sir, 

Your  obliged  and  obedient  servant, 

Mr.  C.  C.  Baldwin.  Will.  Gaston. 

To  the  foregoing  letter,  which  came  into  my  hands  in 
the  manner  described  in  the  one  which  follows;  I  imme- 
diately addressed  to  the  Gazette,  which  had  published  it, 
the  following  reply,  under  cover  to  a  friend  in  Lexing- 
ton, Va. 

Baltimore,  February  19r/i,  1836. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Lexington  Gazette: 

Sir, — Some  unknown  person  has  sent  to   me  through  the  post  office, 
the  fragment  of  a  newspaper  dated  the  5th  of  this  month,  in  which  I  find 
long  letter  of  Judge  Gaston   of  N-    C.   addressed   to    Mr.  C.   C. 


94  AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

Baldwin,  and  preceded  by  a  column  of  editorial  remarks.  It  is  from 
a  passage  of  Judge  Gaston's  letter  only,  that  I  am  enabled  to  de- 
termiuu  the  name  and  location  of  the  newspaper,  a  part  of  which  has 
been  sent  me.  It  is  from  the  same  source,  that  I  learn  he  had  been  called 
to  account  by  a  previous  article  in  your  paper,  under  the  signature  of 
"Bene*.;"  and  that  his  present  letter  is  published  on  the  responsibility  of 
the  gentleman  to  whom  it  ii  addressed;  and  rather  against  the  wishes  of 
its  author. 

In  the  course  of  Judge  Gaston's  letter,  he  refers  to  the  Baltimore 
Religious  and  Literary  .Magazine,  as  having  been  the  vehicle  of  s  charge 
similar  to  the  one  now  hinted  at  by  him;  and  indulges  himself  in  such 
expressions,  to  justify  his  contemptuous  silence  under  the  accusations 
of  that  periodical,  as  were  perhaps  natural  under  the  circumstances.  .My 
right  to  addres  to  you  this  communication,  and  to  ask  its  publication  in 
your  paper,  is  founded  in  part  on  the  fact,  that  I  am  the  senior  editor  of 
the  work  in  question,  and  the  author  of  the  article  complained  of;  and 
in  still  greater  part  on  the  intrinsic  and  induring  importance  of  the  matter 
in  contest. 

Then  be  pleased  sir,  to  bear  with  me  while  I  make  a  short  and  perfect- 
ly plain  statement.  In  the  "Baltimore  Literary  and  Religious  Mag- 
azine," for  July,  1835,  is  an  article  of  four  or  five  pages,  entitled 
"Judge  Gaston  of  JV.  Carolina,  Religious  Liberty.  Mental  Re- 
servation." I  send  you,  along  with  this,  a  copy  of  the  work,  and  ask 
the  insertion  of  that  article  in  your  paper.  This  I  do  the  more  readily, 
that  all  who  choose,  may  see  the  real  temper,  manner  and  end  of  that 
article,  which  Judge  Gaston  has  so  grossly  misrepresented.  It  will  then 
be  seen  that  the  whole  ground  of  defence  set  up  by  him,  for  the  most 
extraordinary  act  ever  justified  by  a  Christian  gentleman,  is  entirely 
evasive  and  irrelavent;  and  that  the  real  ground  of  dissatisfaction  with 
his  conduct  and  religious  principles,  remains  not  only  uncontradicted, 
but  absolutely  confessed. 

Judge  Gaston  is  a  Roman  Catholic.  To  that  I  hare  nothing  to  say. 
He  is  at  full  liberty  to  believe  and  practice  whatever  religious  rites,  seem 
good  in  his  own  eyes,  or  none  at  all  if  he  so  pleases.  And  God  forbid 
that  any  should  abridge  him  of  his  liberty.  But  sir,  Judge  Gaston 
has  no  right,  either  natural,  civil,  or  moral,  to  continue  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic, and  at  the  very  same  moment,  swear  that  he  believes  "the  Pro- 
testant Religion  to  be  true."  Still  less  has  he  the  right  to  do 
this  in  a  solemn,  public,  formal  and  official  manner  !  Yet  this  is  the 
very  thing  which  he  has  done — which  he  neither  has  denied  nor  can 
deny — which  I  have  alledged  against  him, — which  I  am  ready  to  main- 
tain to  be  true  before  any  tribunal  in  the  universe,  and  that  with  unan- 
swerable proofs — and  which  he  in  the  letter  I  am  now  noticing  indirect- 
ly justifies  !  This  sir  is  the  plain  matter  of  fact  of  the  case.  By  the 
XXXII.  article  of  the  late  constitution  of  N.  Carolina,  it  was  provided, 
"That  no  person  who  shall  deny  the  being  of  God,  or  the  truth 
or  the  Protestant  Religion,  or  the  divine  authority  either  of  the 
Old  or  New  Testaments,  or  who  shall  hold  religious  principles  i?i- 
compatible   with  the  freedom  and  safety  of  the   state,    small  be 

CAPABLE  OF  HOLDING  ANT  OFFICE,  OR  PLACE  OF  TRUST  OR 
PROFIT    IN     THE   CIVIL      GOVERNMENT    WITHIN    THIS     STATE." 

Yet  Judge  Gaston  being  and  continuing  a  papist,  was  appointed  a 
judge  under  that  constitution — and   actually  took  the  usual  oaths  to  sup- 


AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  AMERICA*  PEOPLE.  95 

port  that,  which  he  trampled  under  foot  even  while  he  called  God  to  wit- 
ness that  he  helieved  that  to  be  true,  which  in  his  secret  soul  lie  was  sat- 
isfied  was  false  !  ! 

You  will  allow  me  sir  to  say  in  my  own  defence,  that  I  have  been 
kicked  into  this  popish  controversy,  by  the  priests  and  others  around  me; 
that  the  case  of  judge  Gaston  was  no  private  matter,  but  a  public  and 
official  act, — that  as  such  it  has  been  used  as  a  strong  and  frightful  illus- 
tration, of  the  natural  and  necessary  fruits  of  a  false  and  bloody  super- 
stition, which  is  spreading  in  all  directions  in  this  country, — and  which 
foreign  states  and  princes  are  conspiring  to  establish  as  the  public  religion 
of  America;  and  that  in  the  whole  case,  the  talents,  public  services,  and 
private  virtues  of  judge  Gaston  have  been  fully  admitted,  indeed  stated. 
But  this  act  of  his  is  undeniable  and  indefensible;  and  it  ought  to  open 
the  eyes  of  all  men  to  the  dreadful  nature  of  a  religion,  which  while  it 
persecutes  on  principle  all  who  reject  it, — at  the  same  time  corrupts  all 
who  receive  it. 

If  you  will  look  at  the  article  to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  you  will 
discover  that  the  four  grounds  of  defence  set  up  by  the  friends  of  this  gentle- 
man, are  slightly  examined.  1.  That  the  provision  in  the  constitution 
of  N.  Carolina  was  a  mere  dead  letter.  2.  That  he  was  not  bound  to 
know  what  was  meant  by  the  terms  "  Protestant  Religion,"  as  they 
were  not  defined  either  in  the  laws  or  constitution  of  his  state.  3.  That 
the  oath  he  took  was  actually  true,  and  that  though  a  Catholic,  he  might 
believe  the  Protestant  religion  to  be  true.  4.  That  he  got  a  dispensa- 
tion to  take  this  oath.  These  were  actual  defences  which  I  had  heard 
suggested  in  his  own  state  by  his  own  friends,  over  and  over,  during  two 
journies  entirely  across  the  state  in  two  different  directions,  which  I  had 
then  recently  taken.  For  the  notice  taken  of  them,  I  refer  you  to  the 
printed  article. 

It  must  be  apparent  then,  how  absurd  and  how  evasive  is  Judge  Gas- 
ton's letter  lately  published  in  your  paper,  in  which  he  admits  that  he 
had  seen  a  copy  of  my  article,  and  yet  passing  over  the  only  real  charge, 
namely,  that  he  took  the  oath,  confines  his  defence  to  the  denial  of  that 
which  his  own  friends  had  suggested  as  a  defence  for  him.  The  burden 
of  his  letter  is  to  show  that  he  did  not  get  a  dispensation  from  the  arch- 
bishop of  Baltimore,  to  take  this  dreadful  oath!  Instead  of  making  this 
supposed  dispensation  the  ground  of  charge,  I  stated  it  expressly  as  ground 
of  excuse,  better  and  more  likely  in  itself,  and  more  to  his  credit  than  any 
thing  else  I  had  heard  of,  or  could  imagine!  If  we  are  now  to  understand 
that  he  got  no  dispensation  at  all,  then  I  can  only  say,  the  whole  weight 
of  criminality  of  the  oath  in  question  rests  on  himself,  instead  of  being 
divided  with  some  ecclesiastic.  But  if  on  the  other  hand,  as  the  tenor  of 
his  letter  admits  of  being  construed — he  only  means  to  deny  that  he  got 
the  supposed  dispensation  any  where  else  than  from  his  household 
priest  ;  I  will  merely  place  this  equivocation  by  the  side  of  that  which 
passed  by  the  only  real  charge,  to  level  accusations  against  me,  for  ad- 
mitting as  relatively  probable,  what  hundreds  disposed  to  excuse  him,  re- 
peated as  true! 

I  assure  you  sir,  that  so  far  from  having  any  personal  or  sectarian 
reasons  influencing  my  conduct,  as  Judge  Gaston  insinuates,  the  fact  is 
all  the  other  way.  I  do  not  know  his  person,  even  by  sight;  I  greatly 
respect  his  public  services,  his  talents,  and  his  love  of  letters;  and  I  have 
had  private  reasons  more  than  ever  he  can  know,  urging  me  to  pretermit 


96  AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE   AM  ERICAN  PEOPLE. 

this  whole  matter,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  him.  But  in  the  providence  of 
God.  that  gentleman's  arts  have  given  me  the  means  of  rousing  my  coun- 
trymen to  the  dangers  threatened  them  from  a  political  religion,  which 
has  one  grand  unwavering  principle  of  action,  to  effect  one  great  result 
ruinous  to  the  whole  human  race.  It  is  branded  into  the  soul  of  papism, 
that  the  whole  world  belongs  to  herself  as  the  mother  and  mistress 
of  all  churches,  and  to  the  pope  as  the  vicar  of  God.  It  is  laid  on 
the  soul  of  every  papist,  to  labor  by  all  means,  good  or  bad,  to  bring 
back  a  rebellious  world  to  that  horrid  rule.  Behold,  illustrated  in 
this  case,  public  and  ollicial  as  it  is,  some  of  the  worst  results  of  this  tre- 
mendous system! 

Whatever  may  be  Judge  Gaston's  elevation,  somewhat  too  boastfully 
asserted  perhaps,  or  whatever  my  own  admitted  insignificance;  he  should 
remember  that  it  is  only  in  the  church  of  Rome,  that  exalted  rank,  dis- 
charges all  the  obligations  of  virtue;  and  that  in  the  hearts  of  our  simple 
countrymen,  truth  is  yet  stronger  than  authority.  And  there  are  perhaps 
Mr.  editor,  many  around  you  who  are  able  to  satisfy  even  the  fastidious- 
ness of  judge  Gaston's  apprehensions  of  dishonour,  if  he  should  notice  a 
charge  from  such  a  source.  Thus  far  at  least  I  may  relieve  his  appre- 
hensions without  the  appearance  of  too  great  presumption:  I  have  yet 
to  learn  that  my  name,  by  whomsoever  borne,  has  ever  been  coupled  with 
an  act  of  formal  and  deliberate  perfidy,  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  God, 
in  the  face  of  a  free  people. 

I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

Ro.  J.  Breckinridge. 

This  letter  reached  its  destination  in  due  course  of  the 
mail ;  and  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  person  to 
whom  it  was  addressed.  Instead  of  printing  it  however, 
he  returned  it  with  the  following  letter  addressed  to  me. 

Lexington,  Va.  February  29,  1836. 

Sir, — Your  communication  for  the  Gazette  with  the  accompanying 
pamphlet,  was  duly  received,  and  for  reasons  which  I  will  proceed  to  as- 
sign, is  respectfully  declined. 

-  The  Catholic  controversy  terminated  in  my  paper  some  time  since, 
and  (in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  avast  majority  of  my  patrons)  I 
solemnly  and  repeatedly  pledged  myself  not  to  admit  it  again  into  the 
Gazette.  Judge  Gaston's  letter  was  published  as  an  act  of  justice  to 
his  private  character,  and  from  no  other  motive  whatever.  Now  Sir 
how  can  I  under  these  circumstances  revive  this  controversy  without 
violating  my  solemn  pledges? 

Hut  Sir,  I  would  not  entertain  this  controversy  if  the  pope  were  to  re- 
lease me  from  my  pledges,  because  it  would  exclude  more  useful  and  in- 
teresting matter  from  my  paper  (a  small  weekly  sheet,)  and  is  entirely 
uncalled  for,  there  being  scarcely  an  individual  in  the  county  who  does 
not  consider  the  church  of  Rome  as  a  sink  of  iniquity,  and  the  enemy  of 
God  and  man.  Why  sir,  a  good  many  of  my  subscribers  stopped  their 
papers  because  I  dared  to  defend  the  Catholics,  and  all  of  them  censured 
me  for  saving  a  word  in  their  favor. 

A  Catholic  controversy  is  as  much  out  of  place  in  my  paper  as  a  politi- 
cal controversy  would  be  in  your  magazine.  Your  main  reason  then  for 
asking  the  insertion  of  your  communication  in  the  Gazette,  is  overruled. 


AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE.  97 

Judge  Gaston's  letter  was  in  reply  to  the  charge  of  M  Senex" — that  ho 
had  obtained  a  dispensation  from  the  bishop  of  Baltimore  to  commit  per- 
jury, and  not  in  answer  to  the  article  in  your  periodical.  He  merely 
mentions  that  your  magazine  had  made  a  similar  charge  against  him. 
But  this  surely  does  not  make  you  a  party  to  the  controversy,  or  give 
you  any  u  right"  to  reply  through  my  paper.  If  Judge  (jiaston  has  done 
you  any  specific  injury  through  my  paper,  most  certainly  you  shall  be 
permitted  to  redress  it.     But  you  must  confine  yourself  to  that  point. 

Most  certainly  I  cannot  tolerate  a  discussion  in  my  paper  of  the  ques- 
tion whether  Judge  Gaston  acted  properly  or  improperly  in  accepting  a 
judicial  office  under  the  old  constitution  of  N.  C.  What  is  it  to  me  or 
my  readers  whether  he  acted  criminally  or  not,  or  whether  he  and  the 
legislature  who  elected  him,  put  a  right  or  wrong  construction  on  that  re- 
pealed instrument?  For  myself  I  am  firmly  persuaded  that  he  acted 
from  the  purest  motives,  and  on  perfectly  sound  principles.  (See  nig 
speech  in  the  late  convention  of  N.  C.  recently  republished  in  Baltimore.) 

You  ask  me  to  republish  a  long  article  from  the  Magazine,  because 
Judge  Gaston  misrepresented  its  character.  I  pray  to  be  excused.  I 
cannot  admit  the  principle  that  a  misrepresentation  in  the  opinion  of  the 
author,  of  the  character  of  a  disputatious  essay  in  a  paper,  gives  the  author 
of  that  essay  a  right  to  demand  its  republication  in  that  paper.  I  am 
afraid  sir,  that  your  Magazine  might  not  be  quite  as  interesting  as  it  is  at 
present,  if  you  were  to  acknowledge  that  right. 

If  however,  you  choose  to  deny  the  Judge's  assertions  as  to  the  charac- 
ter of  your  essay,  you  can  do  so,  but  you  must  confine  yourself  strictly 
to  that  point. 

In  haste,  yours  &c.  &c.  C.  C.  Baldwin. 

The  italics  in  this  letter,  are  of  the  author's  own 
making.  The  pretexts  on  which  he  refuses  to  publish 
my  letter,  may  be  better  judged  of  from  the  following 
facts.  1.  This  Mr.  Baldwin,  commenced  in  his  own 
paper  this  very  catholic  duscussion,  spontaneously  as  we 
are  informed,  and  published  elaborate  articles  on  the 
catholic  side  of  the  argument  as  now  pending  over  all 
Christendom :  and  only  shut  his  columns  to  it,  after 
Senex  proved  himself  rather  an  unmanageable  antagon- 
ist, and  his  patrons,  as  he  admits  rebuked  his  doings. — 
2.  This  very  letter  of  Judge  Gaston  was  elicited  by  one 
from  this  very  Mr.  Baldwin;  and  was  published,  as  the 
latter  part  of  Mr.  Gaston's  letter  shows,  against  his  own 
views,  and  on  Mr.  Baldwin's  personal  responsibility. — 
That  he  should  under  these  circumstances  refuse  to  pub- 
lish my  letter,  sufficiently  explains  his  principles  and  par* 
tialities ;  and  might  have  saved  him  the  disclosure  to- 
wards the  close  of  his  letter  to  me,  that  he  "was  firmly 
persuaded  that  he  (Judge  Gaston)  acted  from  the  purest 
9 


98  AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

motives,  and  on  perfectly  correct  principles."  Yet  it  is 
undeniable,  that  this  applauded  act  ivas  a  solemn  official 
oath  by  a  staunch  papist,  that  the  Protestant  religion  is 
true!!!  It  is  well.  Candour  is  a  great  virtue.  So  also 
are  truth  and  fair  dealing. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Mr.  Baldwin's  letter  is  dated 
the  27th  of  February,  at  Lexington,  Ya.  On  the  next 
day,  the  Baltimore  Gazette  published  in  this  city  the  let- 
ter of  Judge  Gaston  to  Mr.  B.  with  his  preliminary  re- 
marks. This  publication  was  preceded  by  a  short  note 
to  the  editor;  and  the  copy  of  the  paper  sent  to  me 
through  the  post-office,  several  days  after  its  date,  had  an 
impertinent  manuscript  note  in  the  margin.  Both  are 
annexed  :  first  the  note  to  the  editor  of  the  Gazette ;  then 
the  anonymous  one  to  me. 

To  the  editor  of  the  Baltimore  Gazette: 

Sir, — May  I  ask  the  favor  of  you  to  publish  in  your  valuable  journal, 
for  the  information  of  your  subscribers  and  the  public  generally,  the  letter 
of  Judge  Gaston,  which  will  be  found  in  the  *'  Lexington  (Virginia) 
Gazette"  of  the  5th  instant,  together  with  the  introductory  remarks  of 
the  editor  of  that  paper.  In  making  this  request,  I  am  prompted  by  the 
sole  motive  of  contributing  to  the  refutation  of  a  calumny  heretofore  cir- 
culated in  this  city,  (where  I  believe  it  most  wantonly  originated,) 
against  one  of  the  purest  patriots  and  most  enlightened  jurists  to  be  found 
in  this  or  any  other  country,  and  a  gentleman  whom  I  have  the  pleasure 
of  numbering  among  my  personal  and  most  esteemed  friends. 

A  Subscriber. 

"Now  dear  Sir,  I  hope  you  may  see  whether  or  not  the  Judge  has 
honored  you  with  a  notice:  also  it  is  seen  that  the  community  at 
large  have  caught  you  in  one  of  your  many  falsehoods,  ivhich  you 
cannot  refute  without  telling  another!!" 

This  anonymous  allusion  is  no  doubt  to  a  statement, 
on  page  103  of  the  2d  vol.  of  the  Baltimore  Literary  and 
Religious  Magazine.  In  the  article  commencing  on 
that  page  of  the  March  No.  and  headed  "Collectanea 
II.  1.  Mr.  Gaston — Princeton  College-"  it  is  said  : — 
"The  Hon.  Mr.  Gaston  of  North  Carolina  has  taken  no 
further  notice  of  the  article  published  in  this  Magazine, 
in  July  L835,  page  21*2,  of  vol.  1,  than  to  return  to  us 
the  No.  which  contained  the  article,  and  which  had  been 
sent  to  him  by  mail. "  This  was  then  literally  true  so 
far  as  I  was  concerned  or  informed.  After  that  sentence 
(and  nearly  all  the  remainder  of  that  No.  of  the  Maga- 


AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE.  99 

zine)  was  printed  and  nearly  ready  for  publication, I  saw 
for  the  first  time,  Mr.  Gaston's  letter.     My  letter  to  Mr. 

Baldwin  is  dated  Feb.  1!)  ;  but  even  then,  I  wrote  and 
the  printer  set  up,  and  want  of  space  alone  excluded  a 
short  article  stating  the  existence  and  reception  of  a  no- 
tice by  judge  Gaston,  of  that  which  he  was  most  solemn- 
ly bound  to  have  noticed  seven  months  sooner. 

As  soon  as  I  saw  the  Baltimore  Gazette  containing 
these  articles  ;  I  addressed  the  letter  which  immediately 
follows,  to  the  editor  of  that  paper.  His  reply  follows  it. 
Let  them  be  fairly  judged  by  the  reader. 

Baltimore,  March  5th,  1836. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Baltimore  Gazette: 

Sir, — I  beg  leave  to  direct  your  attention  to  the  several  communications 
accompanying  this  note,  for  a  purpose  which  I  will  immediately  explain. 

The  first  is  a  copy  of  your  paper  of  last  Monday,  which  I  have  re- 
ceived to-day  from  the  post-office,  containing  the  letter  of  Judge  Gaston 
North  Carolina,  with  the  comments  of  the  editor  of  the  Lexington 
vVa.)  Gazette.  In  the  margin  you  will  observe  an  insolent  manuscript 
note  to  me,  from  the  unknown  person  who  sent  me  your  paper.  The 
second  is  a  letter  addressed  by  me,  to  the  editor  of  the  Lexington  Gazete, 
in  answer  to  that  portion  of  judge  Gaston's  letter  to  him,  which  relates 
to  me.  The  third  is  that  editor's  letter  to  me,  refusing  to  publish  my 
letter. 

My  sole  object  in  now  troubling  you  sir,  is  to  ask  the  publication  in 
your  paper,  of  the  letter  addressed  by  me  to  the  editor  of  the  Lexington 
Gazette,  in  reply  to  Judge  Gaston;  and  which  he  refused  to  publish. 

It  is  now  above  a  year  since  the  paper  you  now  edit,  (which  was  then 
controled  by  another  person,)  published  repeated  attacks  on  me;  and  re- 
fused admission  to  any  defence  by  me.  The  Baltimore  American  at  that 
time  refused  to  allow  me  to  defend  myself  through  its  columns;  and 
having  no  claim  on  any  other  paper  in  this  city  so  strong  as  on  yours, 
and  it  (being  a  subscriber  to  one,  and  assailed  in  the  other,)  I  applied 
to  no  other.  So  that  to  this  day,  I  have  been  denied  a  hearing  in  the  pre- 
mises. The  recent  conduct  of  the  Virginia  paper,  is  a  sample  of  the 
same  proceedings.  I  make  this  statement  to  you  sir,  in  the  hope  of  im- 
pressing your  mind  with  the  deep  conviction  which  abides  on  my  own; 
that  such  conduct  is  equally  inconsistent  with  the  freedom  of  the  public 
press,  the  rights  of  individuals,  and  the  interests  of  truth. 

T  make  no  sort  of  objection  to  any  man's  charging  me,  in  any  form 
and  before  any  tribunal  he  pleases.  I  object  only  to  being  denied  the 
liberty  of  defence.  I  therefore  make  no  complaint  whatever  of  your 
publishing  Judge  Gaston's  disrespectful  expressions  of  me.  On  the  con- 
trary, I  intend  myself  to  publish  his  letter; — regretting  only,  that  it 
affords  so  bad  a  defence  of  so  strange  an  act.  But  it  seems  to  me,  that 
my  right  to  be  heard,  is  as  perfect  as  his.  For  my  character  is  quite  as 
important  to  me,  as  his  can  be  to  him;  and  the  solemn  and  weighty 
matter  in  contest  between  us,  to  be  rightly  decided,  must  be  fairly  heard. 


100  AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 

I  beg  the  favor  of  you,  to  preserve  all  the  papers  sent  to  you;  and  to 
accompany  the  one  which  I  hope  you  will  publish,  with  as  much  of  the 
substance  of  the  present  statement,  as  shall  be  necessary  to  make  the 
whole  case  intelligible. 

I  am  sir,  your  obt.  sent. 

Ro.  J.  Breckinridge. 

Baltimore,  March  1th    1836. 

Rev'd.  Sir. — I  received  on  Saturday  last  your  letter  of  that  date, 
with  three  accompanying  documents,  one  of  which — a  letter  from  you  to 
the  editor  of  the  Lexington  (Ya.)  Gazette — you  request  me  to  publish  in 
mJ  PaPt>r — intimating  your  conviction,  that  you  have  a  light  to  expect 
I  will  comply  with  your  request. 

Although  I  consider  the  compliance  with  an  application — even  from  a 
subscriber — to  publish  in  my  paper  any  communication,  other  than  an 
advertisement,  as  an  act  of  courtesy  and  favour,  and  not  the  perform- 
ance of  a  duty,  or  what  can  be  claimed  as  a  right:  I  would  cheerfully 
accede  to  your  wish,  if  the  contents  of  the  letter  you  proposed  to  have 
published  were  not  of  that  character,  which  experience  has  convinced 
me  cannot  be  usefully  and  safely  admitted  into  the  columns  of  a  news- 
paper. I  am  therefore  under  the  necessity  of  declining  the  publication. 
1  return  you  the  documents  which  accompanied  your  letter — assuring  you 
that  I  have  no  knowledge  of  the  writer  of  the  censurable  note  written 
on  the  margin  of  the  Gazette. 

I  am  respectfully  yours, 

Wm.  Gwyhn 

At  the  suggestion  of  a  friend  that  the  editor  of  Balti- 
more Chronicle  would  probably  publish  my  letter  in  re- 
ply to  judge  Gaston  ;  I  addressed  him  the  note  publish- 
ed below.  He  replied  verbally,  that  he  could  not  publish 
my  letter,  as  he  had  not  published  judge  Gaston'* s. 

Baltimore,  March  9th,  1836. 

Ro.  J.  Breckinridge  presents  his  respects  to  Mr.  Barnes,  and  begs 
leave  to  trouble  him,  so  far  as  to  ask  his  attention  to  the  subject  contain- 
ed in  the  packet  of  letters  sent  to  him  herewith. 

The  entire  object  of  this  application,  is  to  obtain  the  publication  in  the 
Chronicle,  of  the  letter  addressed  by  R.  J.  B.  to  the  Lexington  (Ya. ) 
Gazette;  and  which  was  refused,  first  by  that  paper,  and  then  by  the 
Gazette  of  this  city;  for  reasons  and  under  circumstances  which  the 
letter  of  Messrs.  Baldwin,  and  Gvvynn,  will  explain. 

He  is  the  more  urgent,  for  the  publication  of  the  letter  which  he  asks 
Mr.  B.  to  admit  into  his  journal,  because,  as  he  is  on  the  eve  of  leaving 
the  United  States — he  wishes  Mr.  Gaston  to  see  as  early  as  possible,  the 
position  which  he  is  resolved  to  occupy,  as  regards  a  subject,  with  rela- 
tion to  which  all  the  whole  Catholics  and  half  Catholics  in  the  country, 
seem  already  so  perfectly  organized,  for  Mr.  Gaston,  and  against  the  very 
clearest  principles  of  morality  and  public  virtue. 

Alas!  sir,  if  public  men  are  allowed  in  the  most  formal,  official  acts, 
to  take  false  oaths; — and  ihose  who  love  truth  well  enough  to  remark  on 
it,  are  to  be  held  up  to  public  scorn,  and  then  denied  the  only  efiectual 


AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE.  101 

means  of  defence,  because  there  is  a  certain  superstition  in  the  country 
which  tolerates  false  swearing;  then  indeed  the  public  press,  and  the 
public  morals  too  are  sadly  out  of  joint. 

And  is  it  so  great  a  crime  to  love  truth?  Has  it 
ceased  to  be  a  sin  against  God,  and  a  crime  under  our 
laws,  and  an  offence  against  good  morals,  for  fraud  and 
falsehood  to  be  formally  and  even  officially  committed  ? 
No:  this  is  not  so  by  any  means.  If  /  had  acted  as  Judge 
Gaston  has ;  my  sect  would  have  deposed  me  from  the 
ministry — my  congregation  would  have  shut  my  church 
doors  against  me — my  friends  wfould  have  wept  over  me 
as  one  undone — and  the  whole  world  would  have  had  but 
one  opinion  about  it — and  that  opinion  would  have  been, 
that  I  was  a  degraded  man.  Then  why  not  mete  the 
same  measure  to  judge  Gaston?  I  will  tell  you  why. — 
It  is  because  judge  Gaston  is  a  papist ;  and  his  creed  ad- 
mits and  approves  his  conduct.  And  therefore  let  every 
man  that  loves  God  pity  and  forgive  judge  Gaston  ;  and 
frown  down  his  pestiferous  superstition  as  the  parent  of 
all  vice,  and  the  enemy  of  every  virtue  ! 

But  is  the  public  press  already  Catholic  or  infidel?  Is 
the  whole  editorial  corps  converted,  subsidised,  afraid, 
or  totally  indifferent ?  No:  this  is  by  no  means  so.  If 
a  Methodist  judge  should  take  a  false  oath  ;  or  a  Presby- 
terian judge  commit  a  flagrant  violation  of  morality  ;  or 
an  Episcopal  judge  outrage  public  decency  ;  or  a  deisti- 
cal  judge  be  guilty  of  deliberate  perfidy  in  official  af- 
fairs ;  in  all  these  cases  the  public  press  would  fully  res- 
pond to  the  public  feeling — and  the  judge  would  be  dis- 
graced, if  not  degraded  !  Why  deal  out  a  different  mea- 
sure to  a  Catholic  j  udge  ?  I  will  tell  you  why. — It  is  be- 
cause every  Catholic  in  the  world  makes  common  cause 
with  every  other  Catholic  in  the  world,  and  wriththe  pope 
of  Rome,  as  the  head  of  all  the  world,  and  with  the 
Catholic  church,  as  the  mother  and  mistress  of  all  the 
churches  in  the  world  !  Virtue  is  nothing,  truth  is  noth- 
ing, religion  is  nothing,  country  is  nothing,  liberty  is 
nothing  ; — the  church  is  all  :  and  the  pope  its  head,  and 
all  its  true  members,  form  one  universal  conspiracy 
against  every  good  of  man,  and  the  honour  of  God  him- 
self. Printers  feel  the  force,  though  they  may  deny  the 
9* 


102        TEXIAN  REVOLUTION,  BEFORE   SAN  JACINTO, 

reality  of  this  conspiracy.  If  Mr.  (iwynn  abuses  me  or 
any  other  Protestant  in  his  paper — no  one  interferes;  it 
is  a  personal  affair  to  be  decided  on  its  merits.  If  he 
writes  ten  lines  against  archbishop  Eccleston,  in  eight 
days  his  paper  would  probably  DC  ruined.  And  this, 
although  every  word  he  had  said  of  him  were  pregnant 
with  truth,  and  vital  to  the  public  welfare  ! — Oh!  then 
let  every  man  that  loves  his  race — his  children — his  in- 
estimable rights — his  glorious  country — rouse  himself  up 
to  the  contemplation  of  the  principles  and  designs  of  this 
atrocious  society  ;  which  aims  at  no  less  than  the  univer- 
sal monarchy  ot  the  world  ;  and  which,  though  it  pur- 
sues this  object  under  the  guise  of  religion,  is  bound  by 
no  principle  human  or  divine.  Oh !  how  willingly 
would  I  become  their  victim  if  that  might  be  the  means 
of  making  my  country  feel ;  that  every  sentiment  of  patri- 
otism, every  emotion  of  philanthropy,  and  every  princi- 
ple of  true  religion,  equally  impel  us  to  suppress  by  all 
awful  means  this  unparalleled  superstition,  as  the  enemy 
alike  of  God  and  man. 

Bait.  March  12,  1836.  Ro.  J.  Brecktnridge. 


i 


NUMBER   XII. 

TEXIAN    REVOLUTION,    BEFORE    SAN    JACINTO. 

The  crimes  which  have  been  committed  under  the 
sanction  of  religion,  are  the  foulest  that  stain  the  pages 
of  history.  The  evils  which  have  been  inflicted  on  man- 
kind in  the  name  of  God,  are  the  most  appalling  which 
our  race  has  befell  called  to  endure.  The  impurities  of 
heathenism,  the  cruelties  of  every  form  of  false  religion, 
thedeadness  to  all  virtue  and  all  nobleness  which  so 
strongly  marks  all  bigotry  and  fanaticism;  the  miseries 
in  short,  heaped  upon  the  world,  by  the  perversion  of 


TEXIAN  REVOLUTION,  BEFORE  SAN  JACINTO.        103 

man's  moral  sense,  ami  the  Minding  of  his  natural  con- 
science, exceed  almost  the  bounds  of  all  belief. 

Nor  is  this  mournful  fact  true  only  of  the  whole  sub- 
ject, and  in  relation  to  the  great  abuse  of  religion  in  gen- 
eral. It  is  true  specifically,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
during  almost  the  whole  lapse  of  history,  and  as  regards 
nearly  every  land,  and  every  form  of  the  professed  ser- 
vice of  God,  Mahomedanism  with  its  exterminating 
sword  before,  and  bloody  track  behind  it,  has  for  twelve 
centuries  shrouded  in  the  blackest  midnight — and  beaten 
down  under  the  most  galling  despotism,  at  least  a  hun- 
dred millions  of  the  human  race.  And  oh  !  for  howT  long 
a  period  has  the  fatal  church  of  Rome  ground  down  the 
minds  and  bodies,  the  souls  and  spirits  of  "a  third  part 
of  men" — as  the  word  of  God  so  graphically  expresses 
it ;  under  nameless  and  enduring  woes  !  Her  fires,  her 
executions,  the  dreadful  tribunal  of  the  inquisition,  the 
desolating  crusades,  bulls  exciting  subjects  to  rebellion 
and  revolution,  seditious  preachers,  conspiracies,  assas- 
inations, — a  world  of  mendicants  praying  on  the  fat  of 
the  earth, — innumerable  priests  debauching  and  degrad- 
ing mankind. — Oh  !  what  a  controversy  hath  God  had 
with  the  world,  to  permit  his  infinite  benignity  to  behold 
without  redressing,  for  so  many  ages,  such  wide  spread 
ruin, — perpetrated  in  his  own  hallowed  name  !  If  his 
justice  bears  any  proportion  to  his  forbearance, — the  day 
of  his  retribution  will  be  full  of  horror  to  these,  his  ene- 
mies. 

Our  own  day,  which  has  seen  so  many  evils  redress- 
ed, has  yet  to  see  the  perfect  cure  of  this  greatest  of 
them  all.  Our  western  continents,  which  have  seen  the 
human  race  make  such  prodigious  advances,  have  yet  to 
behold  this  most  glorious  of  all  revolutions  fully  con- 
summated. The  world  looks  to  America,  to  place  the 
human  race  on  that  sublime  elevation  never  yet  reached 
— or  reached  by  how  few  ! — where  light  shall  no  more  be 
called  darkness — nor  darkness  light;  where  crime  shall 
no  longer  be  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  virtue— God  no 
'onger  be  dishonoured  in  the  name  of  religion,  men  no 
nore  degraded  in  the  sacred  names  of  liberty  and  order: 
vhere  in  short,  sin  shall  be  called  sin,  and  practised  only 


104        TEXIAN  REVOLUTION,  BEFORE   SAN  JACINTO, 

in  the  name  of  the  devil — and  righteousness  be  called 
righteousness,  and  loved  and  practised  in  the  name  of 
God. 

However  far  we  may  have  gone  in  establishing  ele- 
mentary principles  in  the  North  American  constitutions, 
that  are  precisely  right ;  our  practice  is  not  always  en- 
tirely to  be  commended.  However  ample  may  have 
been  the  success  of  the  Protestant  churches  here,  in  set- 
tling their  foundations,  wisely  and  firmly  ;  much,  it  is 
too  evident,  is  yet  to  be  done  by  them,  to  repay  the 
world  for  its  past  sufferings,  and  reclaim  it  back  to  the 
peaceful  reign  of  the  King  of  kings. 

At  this  moment  (January  1836)  on  our  very  borders, 
there  is  in  progress,  one  of  the  blackest  conspiracies 
against  the  spread  of  religious  truth  and  the  perpetuity 
of  free  institutions,  ever  attempted  amongst  men.  And 
yet  both  the  name  of  God  and  the  sanction  of  religion, 
are  invoked  to  give  success  to  a  cause  which  dishonours 
each  alike  ;  while  the  clearest  rights  of  men,  based  on 
the  most  sacred  guarantees  which  states  can  give,  are 
sought  to  be  trampled  down  in  the  blessed  names  of  lib- 
erty and  justice  ! 

The  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  settled  in 
Texas ,  made  it  their  abode  under  the  most  formal  and  re- 
peated pledges,  given  by  the  supreme  authorities  of  the 
Mexican  people ;  in  the  form  of  laws,  compacts,  grants, 
and  decrees,  made  and  confirmed  by  successive  adminis- 
trations, under  the  several  forms  of  government  through 
which  they  have  passed.  Under  these  pledges,  thus 
guaranteed,  were  embraced  ;  1,  Republican  liberty, — 27 
A  federative  system— 3,  Free  toleration  of  the  Protest- 
ant religion;  4,  Sacredness  of  property;  with  other  less 
important  interests.  Whenever  the  people  of  Mexico 
have  had  the  ascendency,  these  pledges  have  been  re- 
garded by  the  nation  ;  and  the  Americans  in  Texas,  have 
lived  safely  in  their  new  home.  But  whenever  the 
priests  and  their  proteges,  the  soldiers  of  fortune,  have 
usurped  the  powers  of  government ;  their  earliest  atten- 
tion has  been  directed  to  the  destruction  of  the  people  of 
Texas.  They  have  not  only  oppressed,  robbed,  and  im- 
prisoned many  of  the  most  distinguished  emigrants  from 


TEXIAN  REVOLUTION,  BEFORE   SAN  JACINTO.        105 

the  United  States,  such  as  Stephen  F.  Austin,  Colonel 
Milam,  and  others  who  have  been  most  scrupulous  in 
their  devotion  to  the  interests  of  their  adopted  country; 
but  they  have  from  time  to  time,  incited  the  Indians  who 
roam  through  the  prairies  of  Mexico,  to  buther  the  Tex- 
ians  as  if  they  were  their  open  enemies,  instead  of  an  in- 
tegral portion  of  the  nation. 

At  length  Santa  Anna  has  thrown  off  the  mask.  By 
the  plan  of  Toluca,  of  which  a  brief  account  is  given  on 
page  28  of  this  vol.;  every  stipulation  made  with  the 
emigrants  to  Texas  has  not  only  been  violated  and  set 
aside  ;  but  it  has  become  a  part  of  the  constitution  of  the 
new  empire,  that  the  rights  guaranteed  to  them,  shall  be 
forever  prohibited  to  all  Mexicans  hereafter.  Republican 
institutions  are  at  an  end  ;  centralism  has  taken  the  place 
of  the  federative  system,  wdiich  is  the  peculiar  safeguard 
of  national  liberty,  in  all  anglo  Saxon  nations,  and  the 
glory  of  their  rece  ;  the  Roman  Catholic  and  apostolic 
religion,  is  the  exclusive  religion  of  Mexico  from  hence- 
forth ;  and  all  freedom  of  opinion  and  purity  of  life  with 
it,  are  gone  forever !  Such  is  the  result  of  all  the  efforts 
of  a  priest  ridden  people,  to  be  free  and  happy  !  Such 
is  a  living  commentary  on  the  professions  of  popish  priests 
in  favour  of  free  government,  and  religious  liberty ! 

In  this  case  there  is  peculiar  atrocity,  on  the  part  of 
the  priests.  They  have  not  only  taken  the  most  active 
measures  in  aid  of  Santa  Anna ;  but  the  archbishop  of 
Mexico,  and  a  few  other  Catholic  ecclesiasticks,  have  vol- 
unteered to  present  the  tyrant  wTith  sufficient  money  to 
carry  on  his  bloody  schemes  against  Texas.  Two 
bishops  have  pledged  a  million  of  dollars  !  Counting  all 
the  people  in  Texas,  this  is  about  twenty  dollars  a  piece, 
for  butchering  them,  subscribed  by  twro  priests !  This 
money  it  will  be  remembered,  has  been  in  some  former 
period,  wrung  from  the  deluded  Spaniards,  under  the 
various  pretexts  by  which  the  priests  brutalize  their  fol- 
lowers ;  and  it  is  now  paid  back  to  them,  as  a  rewTardfor 
fraud,  oppression,  fanaticism  and  murder.  This  ven- 
geance too,  it  cannot  be  forgotten,  is  let  loose  against 
peaceful  citizens  of  the  same  nation ;  wTho  are  to  be  ex- 
tirpated, root  and  branch,  simply  because  they  are  and 


106        TEXIAN  REVOLUTION,  BEFORE   SAN  JACINTO. 

prefer  to  continue  republicans,  freemen  and  Protestants": 
and  that  in  strict  accordance  with  the  laws,  constitution 
and  compacts,  under  which  they  settled  the  country. 

What  is  not  (he  least  attrocious  part  of  this  affair  is,  that 
a  simultaneous  attempt  seems  to  have  been  made  in  this 
country,  by  certain  Catholic  editors  of  newspapers  and 
other  parti/ans  of  Home,  to  degrade  the  Texians,  in  the 
estimation  of  their  former  country;  at  the  same  moment 
that  other  creatures  of  the  same  Rome  are  preparing  for 
their  slaughter,  in  their  new  abode.  Nothing  was  ever 
more  cruel  and  unjust.  Texas,  is  in  arms  in  defence 
of  chartered  rights,  of  constitutional  liberty,  of  republi- 
can institutions,  of  the  protestant  religion!  If  the  people 
of  this  republic  had  the  hundredth  part  of  the  cause 
which  the  people  of  Texas  have,  to  arm;  there  is  no  good 
man  and  true,  in  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  who 
would  not  rouse  himself  up  like  "the  lion,  and  the  young 
lion"— for  the  defence  of  his  beloved  country,  and  his 
precious  rights.  We  are  no  friend  ta  war.  All  war  is 
wrong.  "Vengeance  is  mine  saith  the  Lord."  Yet  if 
ever  men  were  justified  to  stand  on  their  defence,  the 
men  of  Texas  have  the  most  perfect  of  all  justifications. 
If  human  glory  was  ever  given  with  discriminating  jus- 
tice, posterity  will  award  to  them  a  place  second  only  to 
the  fathers  of  our  own  revolution.  And  if  a  righteous 
world  can  ever  render  a  verdict  of  withering  condemna- 
tion, for  the  most  horrible  injustice,  and  deliberate  per- 
fidy—practised in  violation  of  every  thing  that  binds  so- 
ciety together,  or  that  is  held  sacred  amongst  men;  Santa 
Anna,  himself  an  atheist,  and  the  vile  priests  in  league 
with  him,  will  go  down  to  the  latest  generations  of  men, 
inferior  in  infamy  only  to  those  who  have  practised  on  a 
broader  theatre,  the  same  deplorable  wickedness. 

This  is  the  more  likely,  as  we  are  deeply  persuaded 
that  the  people  of  Texas,  have  the  utmost  reason  to  ex- 
pect success.  The  American  nation  will  not  stand  by 
and  witness  the  sacrifice  of  our  own  brethren,  in  defence 
of  such  principles,  altogether  unmoved.  The  nation  will 
not,  even  if  its  rulers  should.  If  the  Texians  can  sus- 
tain the  shock'  of  the  first  encounter,  which  there  is  no 
reason  to  doubt ;  the  whole   south  and  south   west  will 


TEXIAN  REVOLUTION,  BEFORE   SAN  JACINTO.        107 

have  time  to  sympathise  with  them,  and  hundreds  will 
flock  to  their  aid.  Nor  is  it  too  much  to  say,  that  the 
Mexicans  are  no  match  for  the  Americans.  Texas  with 
its  handful  of  daring  spirits,  may  show  a  stouter  resist- 
ance than  half  the  empire  besides.  Whatever  heroic 
courage,  untiring  fortitude,  daring  enterprise  and  perfect 
skill  in  the  personal  use  of  arms  can  accomplish,  will  be 
done.  Whatever  support  the  total  stake  of  life,  fortune, 
honour,  and  every  right  can  give,  they  have.  Besides 
all  this,  their  cause  is  good,  the  world  sympathizes  with 
them,  and  God  is  just. 

In  short,  frantic  as  the  statement  may  appear,  it  is  our 
deliberate  conviction,  that  Stephen  F.  Austin,  or  general 
Houston  has  a  much  better  chance  of  being  yet  president 
of  the  restored  republic  of  Mexico;  than  Santa  Anna  has 
of  overturning  the  Mexican  institutions,  extirpating  the 
state  of  Texas,  and  ruling  over  the  ruins  created  by  him- 
self. It  is  fully  as  likely  that  the  army  of  Texas  will 
conquer  Mexico,  as  that  the  reverse  will  happen. 

We  pray  God  to  restore  peace  with  righteousness  to 
all  parties,  if  that  be  possible;  if  not,  that  He  would  give 
signal  triumph  to  whatever  cause  is  just  and  right. 

As  far  as  we  ever  knew,  the  foregoing  article,  printed 
in  January  1836— was  the  very  earliest  public  and  deci- 
ded stand  taken  by  the  press  in  the  United  States,  in  fa- 
vour of  the  cause  of  Texas.  The  battle  of  San  Jacinto, 
was  fought  six  months  afterwards  ;  and  the  news  of  that 
astonishing  triumph,  reached  the  author  of  these  pages, 
at  Glasgow  in  Scotland,  in  the  latter  part  of  June  1836  ; 
where  it  was  received  with  almost  universal  incredulity— 
indeed  nearly  with  derision.  Events  wThich  connect 
themselves  with  the  birth  of  nations,  necessarily  acquire 
a  high  degree  of  importance.  And  as  those  which  attend- 
ed and  marked  the  origin  of  the  republic  of  Texas,  have 
been  represented  in  every  possible  light;  it  seemed  not 
without  its  use,  to  recall  from  oblivion,  what  to  say  the 
least,  is  a  curious  piece  of  happy  political  guessing,  and 
a  view  not  generally  taken  of  the  true  causes  of  a  very 
remarkable  revolution .  Its  right  to  a  place  in  a  collection 
of  this  nature,  will  not  be  doubted  ;  by  any  wTho  con- 
sider the  views  presented  in  it. 


108 


NUMBER    XIII. 

JEROME  OF  PRAGUE;  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE. 

The  most  that  we  know  of  this  illustrious  martyr  and 
scholar,  anterior  to  the  meeting  of  the  council  ot  Con- 
stance, may  be  related  in  a  few  words,  lie  was  a  Bohe- 
mian of  rank,  was  born  towards  the  close  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  and  spent  his  youth  in  the  eager  pursuit 
of  knowledge,  in  all  the  principal  universities  of  Europe, 
especially  in  those  of  Prague,  Paris,  Heidelburgh,  Co- 
logne, and  Oxford.  At  this  last  mentioned  place,  he  be- 
came particularly  acquainted  with  the  writings  and  opin- 
ions of  John  Wiklif  ;  the  first  great  asserter  of  religi- 
ous liberty  in  Europe,  after  the  darkness  of  the  middle 
ages.  When  he  returned  to  his  native  country  and  set- 
tled at  Prague,  he  at  once  joined  himself  to  the  party  of 
John  Huss,  the  great  Bohemian  reformer,  an'd  forerun- 
ner of  Luther ;  who  was  already  the  open  advocate  of 
some  of  WikliPs  sentiments.  Indulgences,  the  abuse  of 
excommunication,  the  supremacy  of  the  pope,  simony, 
and  transubstantiation— were  among  the  constant  points 
of  controversy  between  the  earliest  reformers  and  the 
papists.  But  the  great  grounds  of  contest  on  which 
Huss  and  Jerome  and  their  colleagues  waged  the  con- 
test, were  the  corruption  of  the  Romish  clergy,  then 
universal  and  horrible;  the  denial  of  the  cup  to  the  peo- 
ple in  the  Eucharist ;  and  the  use  of  an  unknown  lan- 
guage in  public  worship.  Huss  rejoiced  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  a  colleague  so  rarely  gifted  with  all  natural  en- 
dowments, and  so  deeply  versed  in  the  learning  of  the 
times,  as  this'renowned  lay  reformer  was.  We  know 
only  that  Jerome,  with  all  the  ardour  of  his  vivacious 
and  powerful  character,  devoted  himself  to  the  cause  of 
the  reformation  of  the  intolerable  religious  corruptions  of 
the  church  of  Rome,  in  concert  with  Huss  and  his  associ- 
ates; until  we  find  him  implicated  in  the  fate  of  the  leader 
of  his  sect,  and  arraigned  by  the  council  of  Constance. 

The  great  schism  in  the  church  of  Rome  had  now  last- 
ed through  two  generations,  aggravated  rather  than  allay- 


JEROME   OF  PRAGUE,    &C.  109 

ed,  by  every  attempt  to  heal  it.      A  schism  every  step  in 
whose  progress   and  conclusion  proves  .it  once  that  the 

spirit  of  Jesus    had  totally    forsaken  the  Roman    ehureh; 

and  manifests  the  abiding  folly  which  claims  infallibility, 

to  be  surpassed  only  by  the  corruption  which  dtspro 
that  claim.  At  length,  Popes  John,  Gregory,  and 
Benedict,  all  asserting  at  the  same  moment,  universal 
and  infallible  authority  from  God,  and  each  followed  by 
adoring  multitudes;  were  in  part,  overreached  by  the  su- 
perior tact  of  the  emperor  Sigismond  (son  of  Charles 
IV.) and  in  part  overborne  by  the  universal  voice  of  their 
adherents;  and  induced  to  acquiesce  in  the  necessity 
which  dictated  die  call  of  the  council  just  mentioned.  It 
was  convened  by  Sigismond  in  1414.  The  avowed  ob- 
jects for  which  it  met,  were  to  remove  the  dreadful  dis- 
orders of  the  papal  church, — to  heal  the  disgraceful 
schism  which  had  so  long  prevailed — and  to  bring  about 
a  thorough  reformation  of  the  clergy.  The  council  as- 
sembled at  Constance  (whence  its  name)— one  of  the 
most  southern  cities  of  Germany,  on  the  confines  of 
Switzerland— and  nearly  in  the  centre  of  what  was  then 
Christendom.  Here  princes,  prelates,  clergy,  laity,  regu- 
lars and  seculars,  flocked  from  every  part  of  Europe— 
indeed  of  almost  the  whole  world.  "There  were"  says 
Fox— "Archbishops  and  bishops  346,  abbots  and  doc- 
tors 564,  princes,  dukes,  earls,  knights  and  squires 
16 ,000 ^prostitutes  450,  (a  number  far  below  the  truth;) 
barbers  600,  musicians,  cooks  and  buffoons  320!"  Total, 
to  compose  and  aid  at  the  deliberations  of  this  holy  and 
cecuminical  council— 18,282  persons.  Four  presidents 
were  chosen— one  for  Germany,  one  for  France,  one  for 
England,  and  one  for  Italy. 

This  council  it  must  be  admitted,  did  many  good  things 
and  decided  many  wise  and  just  principles.  Amongst 
the  latter,  we  would  particularly  note  the  decisions  made 
in  their  IV.  and  V.  sessions,  which  established  it  as  of 
faith,  that  a  general  council  is  above  the  pope.  This  the 
popes  deny,  and  say  that  the  reverse  is  of  faith.  Both 
parties  being  infallible  expounders  of  the  faith,  the  pa- 
pists have  the  happiness  to  know,  that  in  their  church, 
there  is  no  possibility  of  going  astray,  since  there  is  in  it 
10 


110  JEROME  OF  PRAGUE;  AND 

no  difference  between  right  and  wrong;  but  opp 
sides  of  the  same  proposition  are  equally  true,  if  equally 
asserted  by  the  church.  However  that  may  be,  the  coun- 
cil proceeded  from  good  sayings  to  good  doings;  and 
setting  aside  the  three  reigning  popes,  thus  admitting  that 
there  had  been  no  true  pope,  for  above  thirty  years — 
proceeded  to  the  election  of  cardinal  Otho  Collona,  who 
took  the  name  of  Martin  V. 

But  this  council  did  also  many  most  disgraceful  acts. 
Wiklif  was  dead  ;  but  they  passed  decrees  reviling  his 
memory — and  condemning  the  holy  word  of  God,  as 
truly  taught  by  him.  They  burnt  his  writings  ;  and  im- 
pelled by  the  spirit  of  fiends,  ordered  his  bones  even  to 
be  dug  up  and  burned. 

Having  whetted  their  appetite  upon  the  dead,  they 
next  turned  upon  the  living.  John  Huss  presented  him- 
self as  the  most  conspicuous  of  Wiklif's  disciples  ;  anc\ 
on  him,  their  first  fury  fell.  Huss  had  gone  to  Con- 
stance with  a  certificate  from  the  bishop  of  Nazareth 7 
then  inquisitor  general  of  heresy  in  Bohemia,  that  he  was 
not  a  heretic;  and  a  safe  conduct  from  the  emperor  Se- 
gismond,  that,  heretic  or  not,  he  should  be  allowed  to  go 
to,  abide  at,  and  return  from  the  council  (to  which  he 
had  been  invited  by  the  emperor,  cited  by  the  council  it- 
self, and  called  by  the  legates  of  the  pope)  safe  and  un- 
7nolested.  Omni  prorsus  impedimento  remoto,  transire, 
stare,  morari,  et  rcdire,  libere  permitatis  sibiqvc  ct  mU  : 
— these  are  the  words  of  the  emperor's  safe  conduct. — 
But  it  is  of  the  essence  of  papal  faith,  that  no  faith  should 
be  kept  with  heretics.  They  burned  John  Huss,  with 
every  circumstance  of  cruelty  and  insult. 

When  Huss  was  preparing  himself  for  his  journey  to 
Constance,  Jerome  exhorted  him  to  bear  himself  firmly 
in  his  severe  trial,  and  to  be  faithful  to  the  great  princi- 
ples on  which  they  stood;  pledging  himself  to  repair  to 
his  assistance,  whenever  he  should  ask,  or  need  his  pre- 
sence and  sympathy.  This  lie  faithfully  endeavoured  to 
perform  as  soon  as  he  heard  at  Prague,  of  the  dark  pros- 
pects of  his  friend's  affairs  at  Constance  ;  although  Huss 
urged  him  to  give  up  his  undertaking  as  equally  danger- 
ous and  unprofitable.     He  however  kept  his    promiser 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  Ill 

and  arrived  at  Constance  on  the  4th  of  April  1415,  a  few 
months  before  the  death  ofhifi  illustrious  friend.  Find- 
ing it  ii.  him,  i  r  even  to  see  him,  lu- 
lett   the  city;  and  writing  to    Sigismond,  that  he  \. 

i  appear  before  the  council  if  be  would  give  him 
a  safe  conduct,  waited  at  Iberting  for  his  reply.  The 
emperor  had   the    honor  to   refuse    tin  <  induct; 

Jerome  had  placards  posted   up  in  the  principal   places 
re  the  council  sat,  declaring  his  readiness  to  appear 
before  it,  on  receiving  its  plighted  faith,  for  his  security. 
Receiving  no  reply,  he  took  the  certificates  of  several  of 
the  Bohemian  nobles,  proving  all  he  had  done  to  obtain 
a  hearing,  and  set  out  on  his  return  to  Prague.      On  his 
journey,  he  was  seized,  carried  back  to  Constance,  con- 
fined, tried,  condemned,  insulted,  and  imprisoned  under 
circumstance  of  indignity  and  injustice. 
And  n^w  we  recount  with  sorrow,  the  fall,  alas  !  how 
gre<  ,  otherwise  blameless  man.      It  has  ever  been 

the  policy  of  Rome  to  ruin  and  degrade,  as  well  as  cru- 
cify and  slay  her  enemies.  Confinement,  sickness,  pri- 
vation, sufferings,  and  indignities,  beyond  what  nature 
could  support;  threats  and  promises,  caresses  and  tempta- 
tions; in  short,  every  instrument  by  which  the  soul  and 
mind  and  body  of  poor  erring  man,  can  be  made  to  show 
how  frail  we  are,  was  turned  for  months  together,  upon 
this  solitary  and  friendless  man; — and  turned  alas  !  with 
fatal  success.  He  first  wavered  ;  shrunk  before  the  trials 
laid  upon  him  ;  fell !  On  the  2nd  of  September,  1415, 
he  read  his  recantation — renounced  the  errors  of  Wiklif 
and  Huss — assented  to  the  decrees  against  them  both — 
and  declared  himself  a  firm  believer  in  every  article  held 
by  the  church  of  Rome. 

'  But  God  did  not  wholly  forsake  him.  From  the  mo- 
ment of  this  dreadful  apostacy,  his  heart  was  broken. — 
He  had  sinned  against  light  and  knowledge,  against  God 
and  his  own  soul.  He  seemed  to  desire  life,  only  that  he 
might  repair  this  awful  fall  ;  and  sunk  into  a  gloom  from 
which  nothing  but  the  hope  of  wiping  off  with  his 
blood,  the  stain  he  had  brought  upon  his  own  name  and 
his  Master's  cause,  could  for  a  moment  rouse  him.  The 
zealous  papists,  saw  with  joy,  a  state  which  they  did  not 


112  JEROME  OF  PRAGUE;  AND 

perhaps  fully  comprehend.  Bu1  it  gave  room  to  question 
the  sincerity  of  his  present  faith  in  their  superstition — 
and  that  wws  enough,  to  justify  the  slaughter  of  him, 
whom  they  had  already  undone.     God  gave  to  Jeroi 

not  only  space  but  opportunity  to  repent,  and  to  do  his 
first  works.      And  well  and    nobly,   did    the  holy    martyr 

win  his  crown  of  light.  New  accusations  were  brought 
against  him,  and  the  old  reiterated  with  new  viok  ace  and 
indecency.  After  a  year  of  Buffering,  perplexity  and  in- 
carceration, lie  was  again  broughl  before  the  council  in 
May,  1416. 

His  enemies  tried  in  vain,  to  persuade  him  to  I 
his  defence  through  the  proctors,  appointed  by  the  coun- 
cil for  that  purpose.  He  refused  positively,  to  make  any 
defence,  or  take  any  notice  of  the  proceedings  against 
him  ;  unless  he  were  allowed  to  answer  for  himself  pub- 
licly and  in  full  and  open  council.  They  probably  lo  - 
ed  for  another  victory,  in  a  new  and  more  signal  humilia- 
tion of  Jerome.  They  had  put  out  the  eyes  of  Samp- 
son ;  and  they  judged  it  not  amiss  to  mock  him.  But  the 
God  of  the  shorn  and  blinded  Nazarite,  gave  him  back, 
for  one  last  and  glorious  effort,  more  than  his  pristine 
strength  ;  and  now  as  then,  he  made  his  repentant  serv- 
ant illustrious  in  his  honoured  death,  beyond  all  the  glory 
of  his  life  ! 

How  he  bore  himself  in  this  last  enterprise,  and  how 
he  met  the  death  which  he  no  longer  dreaded,  let  his  ene- 
mies testify.  Boldly  avowing  his  real  sentiment- — 
openly  renouncing  the  unhappy  recantation  they  had  so 
cruelly  and  basely  extorted  from  him — he  was  sustained 
with  more  than  human  ability  through  the  fearful  contest; 
and  met  his  fate  with  that  noble  mixture  of  dignity  and 
gentleness,  which  illustrates  the  Christian  hero.  His  soul 
rests  with  God.  Let  his  memory  live  for  the  benefit  of 
a  world,  whose  annals  are  adorned  by  few  more  replete 
with  interest  and  instruction 

The  letter  annexed  to  this  article  written  by  PoQGIO 
Bracciolini  the  Florentine  antiquary  and  historian,  who 
was  secretary  to  two  popes,  and  himself  at  the  council 
which  burnt  Jerome;  will  convey  to  the  reader  a  striking 
idea  of  that  truly    illustrious   man.,      llow   full   of  glory, 


THE  COUNCIL  OK  CONSTANCE.  113 

does  this  representation  even  of  an  enemy,  tAo  was  not 
able  to  steel  his  heart  utterly  to  all  noble  impressions 
make  the  name  and  character,  the  death  and  eause^oi 
the  gifted  martyr  seem  ? 

Rome  says  she  tolerates  and  loves  her  dear  Protestant 
brethren  in  this  favoured  land  ;  yea  that  she  would  take 
and  cherish  them  in  her  maternal  bosom,  even  though 
not  altogether  dutiful  children.  "Oh  !  fools  and  slow  of 
heart  to  believe" — that  we  have  been  and  still  alas  !  con- 
tinue to  be  !  Look  at  the  funeral  pile  of  this  gentle,  love- 
ly, noble  man.  With  every  quality  to  command  respect 
and  love,  and  without  one  particle  of  offence  against  the 
laws  of  God  or  his  lawful  sovereign;  see  him  burnt,  by 
the  same  Rome,  that  builds  dungeons  in  the  midst  of  our 
cities,  and  threatens  public  violence  and  private  assassi- 
nation, to  all  who  whisper  a  word  to  her  discredit ;  burnt 
for  a  far  less  heresy  than  we  embrace  and  teach.  And 
what  popish  minion,  ever  yet  condemned  the  deed? 

The  letter  is  dated  at  Constance,  May  20,  1416,  and 
addressed  to  Leonard  Jiretin  at  Rome.  It  is  taken  by 
us  from  Gilpin's  Lives  of  Wiklif  and  his  disciples,  page 
208  ;  from  which  wrork,  and  that  of  Lenfant,  entitled 
UHistoire  du  Concile  de  Constance,  the  facts  here  stated 
are  principally  drawn. 

POGQIO    BRA.CC10LINI,  TO  LEONARDO    BfiUNI. 

In  the  midst  of  a  short  excursion  into  the  country,  I  wrote  to  our  com- 
mon friend;  from  whom,  I  doubt  not,  you  have  had  an  account  of  me. 

Since  my  return  to  Constance,  my  attention  hath  been  wholly  engaged 
by  Jerome,  the  Bohemian  heretic,  as  he  is  called.  The  eloquence  and 
learning,  which  this  person  hath  employed  in  his  own  defence  are  so  ex- 
traordinary, that  I  cannot  forbear  giving  you  a  short  account  of  him. 

To  confess  the  truth,  I  never  knew  the  art  of  speaking  carried  so  near 
the  model  of  ancient  eloquence.  It  was  indeed  amazing  to  hear  with 
what  force  of  expression,  with]what  fluency  of  language,  and  with  what 
excellent  reasoning  he  answered  his  adversaries;  nor  was  I  less  struck 
with  the  gracefulness  of  his  manner,  the  dignity  of  his  action,  and  the 
firmness  and  constancy  of  his  whole  behaviour.  It  grieved  me  to  think 
so  great  a  man  was  laboring  under  so  atrocious  an  accusation.  Whether 
this  accusation  be  a  just  one,  God  knows.  For  myself,  I  enquire  not 
into  the  merits  of  it;  resting  satisfied  with  the  decision  of  my  superiors. 
Bat  I  will  just  give  you  a  summary  of  his  trial. 

After  many  articles  had  been  proved  against  him,  leave  was  at  length 
given  him  to  answer  each  in  its  order.  But  Jerome  long  refused,  strenu- 
ously contending  that  he  had  many  things  to  say  previously,  in  his  defence; 
and  that  he  ought  first  to  be  heard  in  general,  before  he  descended  to 

10* 


114  JEROME  OF  PRAGUE;  AND 

particular?,  When  this  was  over-ruled ;  "Here,"  said  he,  standing  in  the 
midst  of  the  assembly,  "here  is  justice;  here  is  equity.  Beset  by  my 
enemies,  1  am  already  pronounced  a  heretic.  I  am  condemned  before  I 
am  examined.  Were  you  gods  omniscient,  instead  of  an  assembly  of 
fallible  men,  you  could  not  act  with  more  sufficiency.  Error  is  the  lot 
of  mortals;  and  you,  exalted  Bi  you  are,  are  subject  to  it.  But  consider, 
that  the  higher  you  are  exalted,  of  the  more  dangerous  consequence,  are 
your  errors.  As  for  me,  I  know  I  am  a  wretch  below  your  notice. 
But  at  least  consider  that  an  unjust  action,  in  such  an  assembly,  will  be 
of  dangerous  example." 

This,  and  much  more,  he  spoke  with  great  elegance  of  language,  in 
the  midst  of  a  very  unruly  and  indecent  assembly.  And  thus  far  at  least 
he  prevailed;  the  council  ordered  that  he  should  first  answer  objections, 
and  promised  that  he  should  then  have  liberty  to  speak.  Accordingly, 
all  the  articles  alledged  against  him  were  publicly  read,  and  then  proved: 
after  which  he  was  asked,  whether  he  had  aught  to  object?  It  is  incredi- 
ble with  what  acuteness  he  answered;  and  with  what  amazing  dexterity 
ho  warded  off  every  stroke  of  his  adversaries.  Nothing  escaped  him. 
His  whole  behaviour  was  truly  great  and  pious.  If  he  were  indeed  the 
man  his  defence  spoke  him,  he  was  so  far  from  meriting  death,  that  in 
my  judgment,  he  was  not  in  any  degree  culpable.  In  a  word  he  en- 
deavoured to  prove,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  charge  was  purely  the 
invention  of  his  adversaries.  Among  other  things,  being  accused  of  hating 
and  defaming  the  holy  see,  the  pope,  the  cardinals,  the  prelates,  and  the 
whole  state  of  the  clergy,  he  stretched  out  his  hands  and  said  in  a  moving 
accent.  "On  what  side,  reverend  fathers,  shall  I  turn  me  for  redress? 
Whom  shall  I  implore?  Whose  assistance  can  I  expect?  Which  of  you 
hath  not  this  malicious  charge  entirely  alienated  from  me?  Which  of 
you  hath  it  not  changed  from  a  judge  into  an  inveterate  enemy? — It  was 
artfully  alledged  indeed!  Though  other  parts  of  their  charge  was  of  less 
moment,  my  accusers  might  well  imagine,  that  if  this  were  fastened  on 
me,'  it  could  not  fail  of  drawing  upon  me  the  united  indignation  of  my 
judges. ■ ' 

On  the  third  day  of  this  memorable  trial,  what  had  passed  was  re- 
capitulated. When  Jerome,  having  obtained  leave,  though  with  some 
difficulty,  to  speak;  began  his  oration  with  a  prayer  to  God,  whose  di- 
vine assistance  he  pathetically  implored.  He  then  observed,  that  many 
excellent  men,  in  the  annals  of  history,  had  been  oppressed  by  false 
witnesses,  and  condemned  by  unjust  judges.  Beginning  with  profane 
history,  he  instanced  the  death  of  Socrates,  the  captivity  of  Plato,  the 
banishment  of  Anaxagoras,  and  the  unjust  sufferings  of  many  others.  He 
then  instanced  the  many  worthies  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  the  same 
circumstances,  IWoses,  Joseph,  Daniel,  and  almost  all  the  prophets;  and 
lastly,  those  of  the  New,  John  the  Baptist,  St.  Stephen,  and  others,  who 
were  condemned  as  seditious,  profane,  or  immoral  men.  An  unjust 
judgment,  he  said,  proceeding  from  a  lavicwasbad;  from  a  priest  worse: 
still  worse  from  a  college;  of  priests;  and  from  a  general  council,  super- 
latively bad.  These  things  he  spoke  with  such  force  and  emphasis,  as 
kept  every  one's  attention  awake, 

On  one  point  he  dwelt  largely.  As  the  merits  of  the  cause  rested  en- 
tirely on  the  credit  o\'  witnesses,  ho  took  great  pains  to  shew,  that  very 
little  was  due  to  those  produced  against  him.  He  had  many  objec- 
tions to  them,  particularly    their   avowed  hatred  to  him;  the  sources  of 


THE   COUNCIL  OF   CONSTANCE.  116 

which  be  so  palpably  laid  open,  that  be  made  a  strong  impression  upon 
the  minds  of  his  hearers,  and  not  a  little  shook  the  credit  of  the  witness- 
es. The  whole  council  was  moved,  and  greatly  inclined  to  pity,  if  not 
to  favor  him.  He  added,  that  he  came  uncompelled  to  the  council;  and 
that  neither  his  life  nor  doctrine   had  been  sj  the    least 

reason  to  dread  an  appearance  before  them.  Difference  of  opinion,  said 
he,  in  matters  of  faith,  had  e\er  risen  among  learned  men:  and  was  al- 
ways esteemed  productive  of  truth,  rather  than  of  error,  where  bi_ 
was  laid  aside.  Such,  he  said,  was  the  difference  between  Austin  and 
Jerome.  And  though  their  opinions  were  not  only  different,  but  contra- 
.  yet  the  imputation  of  heresy  was  never  fixed  on  either. 

one  expected  that  he  would  now  either  retract  his  errors,  or  at 
least  apologize  for  them.  But  nothing  of  the  kind  was  heard  from  him. 
He  declared  plainly,  that  he  bad  nothing  to  retract.  He  launched  out 
into  a  high  encomium  of  Huss;  calling  him  a  holy  man,  and  lamenting 
his  cruel  and  unjust  death.  He  had  armed  himself,  he  said,  with  a  fail 
resolution  to  follow  the  steps  of  that  blessed  martyr;  and  to  suffer  with 
constancy  whatever  the  malice  of  his  enemies  could  inflict.  "The  per- 
jured witnesses,  (said  he)  who  have  appeared  against  me,  have  won  their 
cause  But  let  them  remember,  they  have  their  evidence  to  give  once 
more  before  a  tribunal,  where  falsehood  can  be  no  disguise." 

It  was  impossible  to  hear  this  pathetic  speaker  without  emotion. 
Every  ear  was  captivated:  and  every  heart  touched.  But  wishes  in  his 
favor  were  vain.  He  threw  hanself  beyond  the  possibility  of  mercy. 
Braving  death,  he  even  provoked  the  vengeance,  which  was  hanging  over 
him.  "If  that  holy  martyr,  (said  he,  speaking  of  Huss)  used  the  c 
with  disrespect,  his  censures  were  not  levelled  at  them  as  priests,  but  as 
wicked  men.  He  saw  with  indignation  those  revenues,  which  had  been 
designed  for  charitable  ends,  expended  upon  -  :.d  rior" 

Through  this  whole  oration,  he  shewed  a  most  amazing  strength  of 
memory.  He  had  been  confined  almost  a  year  in  a  dungeon.  The  se- 
verity of  which  usage  he  complained  of.  bat  in  the  langage  of  a  great 
and  good  man.  In  this  horrid  place,  he  was  deprived  of  books  and 
paper.  Yet  notwithstanding  this,  and  the  constant  anxiety  which  must 
have  hung  over  him,  he  was  at  no  more  loss  for  proper  authorities  and 
quotations,  than  if  he  had  spent  his    intermediate  time    at  leisure  in  bis 


ice  was  sweet,  distinct  and  full.  His  action  every  way  the  most 
proper,  either  to  express  indignation,  or  to  raise  pity:  though  he  made 
no  affected  application  to  the  passions  of  his  audience.  Firm  and  in- 
trepid, he  stood  before  the  council,  collected  in  himself:  and  not  only 
contemning,  but  seeming  even  desirous  of  death.  The  greatest  charac- 
ter in  ancient  story  could  not  possibly  go  beyond  him.  If  there  i3  any 
justice  in  history,  this  m»n  will  be  admired  by  all  posterity.  I  speak  not 
of  his  errors.  Let  these  rest  with  him.  What  I  admired,  was  his  learn- 
ing, his  eloquence,  and  amazing  acuteness.  God  knows  whether  these 
thins*  were  not  the  groucd-work  of  his  ruin. 

Two  days  were  allowed  him  for  reflection,  during  which  time  many 
persons  of  consequence,  and  particularly  my  lord  cardinal  of  Florence, 
endeavored  to  bring  him  to  a  better  mind.  But  persisting  obstinately  in 
«aierror3,  he  was  condemned  as  a  heretic. 

With  a  cheerful  countenance,  and  more  than  stoical  constancy,  he  met 
his  fate :  fearing   neither  death  itself,  nor  the  horrible   form  in  which  it 


116    PAPAL  PROPAGANDISM  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

appeared.  When  he  came  to  the  place,  lie  palled  off  his  upper  garment, 
and  made  a  short  prayer  at  the  stake:  to  which  he  was  soon  after  bound 
with  wet  cords,  and  an  iron  chain;  and  inclosed  as  high  as  his  breast  with 
tuggots. 

Observing  the  executioner  about  to  set  fire  to  the  wood  behind  his 
back,  he  cried  out,  ''Brin^  tfiv  torch  hither.  Perform  thy  office  before 
rny  face.     Had  I  feared  death,  I  might  have  avoided   it." 

As  the  wood  began  to  blaze,  lie  sang  a  hymn,  which  the  violence  of 
flame  scarce  interrupted. 

Thus  died  this  prodigious  man.     The  epithet  is  not  extravagant. 

I  was  myself  an  e\e-u  itne<s  of  his  whole  behaviour.  Whatever  his 
life  may  have  been,   his  death,  without    doubt,  is  a  lesson  of  philosophy. 

But  it  is  time  to  finish  this  long  epistle.  You  will  say  I  have  had  some 
leisure  upon  my  hands.  And  to  say  the  truth,  I  have  not  much  to  do 
here.  This  will,  I  hope,  convince  you,  that  greatness  is  not  wholly  con- 
fined to  antiquity.  You  will  think  me  perhaps  tedious,  but  I  could  have 
been  more  prolix  on  a  subject  so  copious.     Farewell,  my  dear  Leonard. 

Constance,  May  20,  1416. 


NUMBER   XIV. 

PAPAL    PROPAGANDISM    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

In  the  Rue  Vivienne,  which  is  one  of  the  principal 
streets  of  Paris,  is  a  very  extensive  reading  room,  circu- 
lating library,  and  book  store,  owned  by  Galignani ;  and 
here  is  one  of  the  most  common  resorts  of  the  English 
and  Americans  in  Paris.  The  same  establishment  issues 
a  daily  news-paper  in  English,  called  GalignanPs  Mes* 
sender,  which  has  a  very  extensive  circulation,  and  is 
perhaps  the  largest  gazette  published  in  France.  From 
the  No.  of  that  paper  dated  March  2,  1837,  I  cut  the 
advertisement  of  the  Roman  Prelate  of  Philadelphia, 
which  follows,  and  which  I  venture  to  elucidate  by  a 
few  notes. 

"  To  the   Charitable  and  Humane. 

M  Gentl(  inm  and  Ladies. — You  are  already  acquainted  with  th« 
history  of  America  since  its  first  discovery.  That  portion  of  it  especi- 
ally to  which  1  wish  to  draw  your  attention,  Lis  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  rescued  from  the  hands  of  the  King  of  England  sixty 


PAPAL  PROPAGANDISM    IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.     117 

yean   ago.      This  terriu                      r   than   all  F.uropo,    and    comprises 
twenty-lour  ^pirate  republican  gov 
President,  c\. 

came  here  from  I'urope  experience.:  <  h  they 
suffered  in  England,  the  law  being  tin  ra  consequently  de- 
barred from  the  free  exercise  of  the   Catholic  religion. t     But  after  the 


written,  tl  twenty-i 

in  the  Union;  or  if  Michigan  could  :ered  as 

actually  admitted,  still  there  were  twenty;//***1.  The 
States  never  elect  the  president;  that  duty  being  per- 
formed by  the/)e-  president  being  the  chief  mag- 
istrate of  the  natioji  as  such — and  not  \  of  the 
states,  in  their  sovereign  capacity.  The  Catholic  priests 
and  prelates  in  the  United  States,  are  generally  I 
ers  ;  and  are  not  only  ignorant  of  the  actual  state  of  our 
country,  but  deplorably  so,  of  the  peculiar  principles  of 
our;  s.  This  is  the  more  wort]  .^us 
consideration,  as  the  Catholic  ecclesiastics  of  all  coun- 
tries are  not  only  keen  political  partisans,  but  to  a  great 
extent,  direct  the  political  opinions  of  their  flocks. — The 
instances  of  this  conduct,  in  the  United  States  are  in- 
numerable. A  most  signal  one  occurred  in  the  presi- 
dential election  of  1S40  ;  preparatory  to  which  the  coun- 
cil of  all  their  prelates  met  at  Baltimore,  called  upon 
their  people  throughout  the  nation,  to  vote,  upon  certain 
general  principles  stated  by  them  ;  and  then,  several 
months  afterwards,  the  senior  prelate  (f,  John,  Bishop 
&c.)  issued  another  manifesto,  indicating  how,  and  for 
whom,  the  faithful  should  cast  their  suffrages  !  And  they 
did  it — almost  in  solid  phalanx,  over  the  whole  nation. — 
And  more  manifest,  corrupt,  and  alarming  attack  on 
popular  rights,  never  was  made. 

f  This  statement,  is  utterly  untrue.  Several  of  the 
states  were  originally  settled  by  papists — as  Maryland 
and  Louisiana.  In  which  of  the  colonies  were  Catholics 
treated  as  they  have  often  been  in  England?  On  the 
contrary,  which  papal  government,  ever,  in  any  age 
awarded  to  Protestants  the  same  privileges  that  even 
England  has  secured  to  her  papal  subjects  in  manv  of 
her  colonies — as  for  example  Lower  Canada  ? — But  what 
country  exists  on  earth,  or  ever  did  exist  where  the  Pa- 


118    PAPAL  PROPAGANDISM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

date  of  the  declaration  of  independence,  every  person  had  a  right  bylaw 
(de  jure)  to  profess  and  practice  the  religion  of  his  conscience,  without 
restriction  or  impediment.  As  the  Catholic  emigrants  from  Europe,  es- 
pecially from  Ireland,  Germany,  sod  Franoe,  were  rery  numerous,  and 
increasing  every  year  from  the  period  of  the  revolution  up  to  this  date,  it 
19  evident  that  their  numbers  have  at  length  beenm*-  a  \<-ry  considerable 
portion  of  the  population,  dispersed  and  spread  over  all  parts  of  this  vast 
and  extensive  region:  so  that  twelve  dioceses  (each  diocese  having  its 
own  respective  bishop,  appointed    by  the  holy  see)*  have    been    created 


pists  bad  the  power  to  persecute  Protestants,  that  they 
did  not  apply  fire  and  sword  to  them  without  mercy  ? — 
In  America,  it  is  true,  liberty  does  not  depend  on  religi- 
ous opinions,  all  sects  are  equal  in  the  eye  of  the  consti- 
tution and  law  ;  and  this  is  right.  But  even  now  in 
America,  the  spirit  of  the  papacy  interferes  with  the  ex- 
ecution of  law,  to  a  dreadful  extent.  How  many  Roman 
Catholic  murderers  and  rioters  have  escaped  conviction 
in  Maryland  alone,  solely  because  they  were  papists ; 
through  the  influence  of  papal  principles  on  witnesses, 
jurors,  and  prosecutors  ?  How  many  convicted  felons, 
have  been  pardoned,  solely  to  conciliate  for  political 
ends,  the  papal  party  ? — This  spirit  is  part  and  parcel  of 
Romanism — and  is  only  another  manifestation,  of  that 
which  produced  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and 
the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz,  and  countless  ex- 
cesses, persecutions,  assassinations  and  massacres.  It 
is  of  faith  in  the  papal  sect  to  exterminate  heretics  ;  and 
the  people  of  America  have  no  alternative  but  to  convert 
papists — to  be  killed  by  them — or  to  be  their  slaves.  It 
is  a  political  superstition,  wThich  tolerates  no  other  reli- 
gion— except  while  prudence  requires  it.  The  French 
papal  press  is  now  defending  the  policy,  wisdom,  and 
piety,  of  the  conduct  of  Louis  XIV.  in  butchering  and 
exiling  his  Protestant  subjects  ! 

*The  papacy  has  sustained  great  losses,  by  the  progress 
and  results  of  free  opinions.  But  in  some  important  re- 
spects, it  has  also  wronderfully  gained.  During  the 
highest  influence  of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  all  papal  kings 
deemed  it  indispensable  to  keep  some  check  on  his  power 
over  the  clergy,  in  their  kingdoms.  In  no  former  period 
of  the  world,  not  even  in  the  darkest  ages,  was  the  direct 
power  of  the  pope  so  great  over  the  Catholic  clergy,  as  at 


PAPAL  PROPAGANDISM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.    119 

and  erected  in  the  United  States  within  these  thirty  years  pa9t,  viz.—  - 
Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Charleston,  Boston,  Cincinnati, 
Bardstown,  St.  Louis,  .New  Orleans,  Mobile,    Detroit,  and  Yincennes.* 


this  moment.  In  Ireland,  in  France,  every  where — even 
in  the  United  States,  the  pope  of  Rome  has  an  army  of 
ecclesiastics,  devoted  to  him — appointed  by  him — de- 
pendent on  him  for  wealth,  for  honour,  promotion,  every 
thing.  These  men  are  of  course  thoroughly  imbued  with 
his  spirit,  and  active  agents  in  promoting  his  cause. 
That  pope,  be  it  remembered,  not  only  rules  a  temporal 
kingdom,  and  is  a  king  himself — but  is  of  all  kings  the 
most  opposed  to  free  governments,  and  political  liberty. 
(See  Encyclical  Letter  of  Gregory  XVI.  Bait.  Lit.  and 
Rel.  Magazine,  vol.  ii.  (1836)  pp.  190—200.)  Now 
this  king  appoints,  says  bishop  Conwell,  all  the  American 
papal  bishops  !  Every  other  sect  in  America  is  national; 
the  papal  sect  is  anti-national.  No  other  sect  recognises 
any  temporal  head  at  all,  still  less  any  foreign  one.  But 
this  superstition,  is  based  on  sworn  fidelity  to,  and  abso- 
lute dependence  on,  a  foreign  king — who  is  the  most 
corrupt  and  ignorant  of  all  kings — and  whom  they  not 
only  believe  to  be  infallible,  but  absolutely  to  stand  in 
God's  place,  as  his  vicar  on  earth  ! — Every  one  of  these 
bishops  swears  once  every  year,  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  reigning  pope,  king  of  Rome ;  and  every  private 
member  swears  as  often  as  he  repeats  his  creed,  to  ren- 
der "  true  obedience"  to  this  foreign  despot.  (See 
Bait.  Lit.  and  Rel.  Magazine,  vol.  i.  (1835)  pp.  33—5, 
The  Creed  of  Pius  IV.  and  pp.  158—60,  Bishop's  Oath.) 
*  There  has  undoubtedly  been  a  very  great  augmenta- 
tion of  the  papal  population  of  the  United  States,  within 
the  present  century.  This  has  resulted  principally,  as 
bishop  Conwell  says,  from  emigration.  And  while  this 
increase  is  such  as  to  give  just  uneasiness  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States  ;  the  change  has  undoubtedly  been 
of  much  temporal  advantage  to  the  papal  emigrants  them- 
selves. If  the  papal  population  of  the  United  States 
continues  to  increase,  for  a  century,  as  it  has  done  for 
the  last  twenty  five  years ;  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the 
most  serious  and  unhappy  modifications  will  necessarily 


120    PAPAL  PROPAGANDISE!  IN  THE    UNITED  STATES. 

Each  diocese ii  as  large  and  extensive  as  a  kingdom  is  in  Europe.     Here 

arc  nriiiv  triht;-  of  Indian*  I,      many  of  whom    are  converted  oc- 

casionally to  the  Catholic  ami  Christian  faith.     All  the  different 84 
heresies  prevalent  in  Borope    are  to  he  found    here,   with  their    peculiar 
prejudice-;.      The  mission  i-  very  difficult  here  J    the  country  heing  thinly 
peopled,  missionaries  ha?e  long  and    painful  journeys  to   undertake,  and 
nre  subject  to  privations  of  every  kind.* 


occur  in  the  s^^r  6f  Society,  manners,  religion,  freedom 
and  property  in  America.  And  in  the  event  of  that  party 
l.  icoming  greatly  the  strongest  in  a  few  of  ti  ,  the 

dissolution  of  the  union,  and  religious  wars,  are  to  be 
looked  for  as  nearly  certain.  It  is  probable  that  some 
modification  of  the  naturalization  laws  of  America  might 
be  serviceable  in  retarding  the  evil  day.  But  the  true 
course  is — to  attack  the  subject  with  spiritual  arms, 
which  alone  are  mighty  in  this  contest.  The  papists  are 
sent  to  America  by  the  Lord  for  their  good,  or  for  our 
rebuke,  according  as  we  meet  the  crisis.  Enlighten  them, 
and  teach  them  the  word  of  God  ;  and  they  become  val- 
uable citizens  ;  neglect  them,  and  they  will  for  ages  trou- 
ble our  country  and  our  children. — It  is  certain  that  eon- 
versions  from  protestantism  to  papism,  which  were  not 
uncommon  in  America  a  few  years  ago,  are  now  nearly 
unknown ;  while  opposite  conversions  are  common. 
This  is  only  the  first  fruit.  The  final  result,  if  the  people 
of  America  do  their  duty — must  be,  the  conversion  of  the 
great  body  of  the  papists  themselves.  Why  should  we  for- 
get that  Luther,  Calvin,  Zuingle,  Beza,  Knox — were  all, 
once  blinded  papists  ? — Truth  is  mighty. 

*  It  is  obvious  from  the  whole  history  of  the  Roman 
sect,  in  the  United  States,  that  they  aim  at  the  conversion 
of  the  whole  nation— whites,  Indians-— and  all,  to  their 
superstition.  They  are  not  to  be  blamed  for  this  ;  as  no 
doubt,  it  is  the  duty  of  all  men,  to  propagate  what  they 
consider  truth.  But  they  are  to  be  blamed  for  the  se- 
cret, sly  and  underhand  methods  they  use;  and  the  in- 
numerable false  representations  they  make  on  this  sub- 
ject. And  the  people  of  America  are  to  be  blamed  for 
their  credulity  in  believing  that  the  papists  have  no  idea 
of  trying  to  convert  their  sons  in  their  schools,  and  their 
daughters  in  their  nunneries. ---As  to  the  privations  sup- 


PAPAL  PROPAGANDISE!  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.    121 

The  object  of  this  address  is  to  solicit  charitable  contribution!  for  the 
purpose  of  erecting  and  establishing  places  of  divine  worship,  and  semi- 
naries for  the  education  of  youth  of  both  sexes.*    My  dioceses  requires 


ported  by  papal  priests  in  America,  it  will  doubtless  be 
news  in  that  country  ;  and  their  painful  journeys — in  the 
best  steamboats  in  the  world,  or  in  comfortable  and 
speedy  coaches — are  surely  as  endurable  as  their  pedes- 
trian journeys  in  the  dominions  of  their  pope-king,  whose 
fears  of  human  intercourse  induce  him  to  prohibit  dili- 
gences and  stages  ! — As  to  the  heresies  of  America — it  is 
certainly  true,  that  even  the  annual  cursings  upon  them 
on  Holy  Thursday,  have  not  yet  suppressed  them.  (See 
Bulla  in  Cosna  Domini,  Bait.  Lit.  and  Rel.  Magazine, 
vol.  ii,  (1836)  pp.225— 40.) 

*The  schools  of  the  Romanists  in  the  United  States, 
are  generally  designed  for  the  education  of  Protestants, 
and  are  used  as  their  most  effectual  means  of  propagating 
their  opinions.  Young  persons  educated  in  them,  are 
generally  materially  injured  in  their  religious  opinions  ; 
either  by  becoming  familiarised  to  error,  and  thus  losing 
a  proper  aversion  to  it ;  or  by  being  disgusted  with  their 
own  former  and  true  opinions  by  the  falsehoods  and  so- 
phistry of  their  teachers  against  them;  or  even,  in  many 
cases  becoming  papists,  by  reason  of  the  assiduous  and 
unscrupulous  proselytism  of  the  priests.  In  the  mean 
time,  they  lose  some  of  the  most  precious  years  of  their 
life,  in  schools,  w^hich  are  without  exception  of  an  infe- 
rior order,  conducted  on  methods  at  once  ignorant  and 
antiquated,  and  in  studies  not  directed  to  the  best  ob- 
jects. In  the  midst  of  these  attempts  against  protestant 
youths,  hundreds  of  papal  youths  are  totally  neglected 
by  their  proper  and  natural  teachers,  and  allowed  to  re- 
main in  ignorance,  because  they  are  already  in  their 
power.  In  Europe,  national  education  is  only  on  a  good 
footing  in  protestant  states ;  and  in  papal  countries,  as 
the  first  step  towards  doing  any  thing,  the  power  of  the 
priests  over  education,  has  been  abolished.  For  they 
not  only  do  all  they  can  to  defeat  popular  education  in 
their  own  sect,  but  are  found  incompetent  as  a  body,  to 
take  a  distinguished  part  in  the  higher  branches  of  in- 

11 


122    PAPAL  PROPAGANDISM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

assistance  more  than  any  other  in  America,  as  it  comprises  three  states, 
viz.  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  Delaware,  and  has  a  population  of 
two  millions  of  inhabitants,  scattered  through  this  vast  extent  of  territo- 
ry "where  the  harvest  is  great  and  abundant,  and  the  labourers  are  few/' 
Benevolent  societies  in  different  parts  of  Europe,  feeling  for  the  state  of 
America  in  the  above  regard,  have  Bent  charitable  donations  to  the  other 
dioceses  ;  hut  Philadelphia,  which  requires  more  assistance  than  any  of 
the  rest,  has  been  totally  neglected  and  forgotten  up  to  this  date.*     Be- 


Struction.  in  France  lor  example,  priests  have  nothing 
to  do  with  education,  except  the  education  of  priests  only. 
Is  it  not  extraordinary  that  such  men,  unfit  for  such  em- 
ployments and  opposed  to  such  extension  of  knowledge 
in  Europe ;  should  be  so  anxious  to  teach  Protestants  in 
America,  and  so  capable  of  doing  it?  Is  it  not  strange 
that  France,  which  ranks  about  the  fortieth  amongst 
states  in  point  of  general  education  should  furnish  money, 
and  Ireland,  which  ranks  last  of  all  in  the  same  scale, 
should  furnish  teachers  to  America,  which  as  a  nation 
ranks  second  or  third,  and  some  of  whose  states  rank  frst 
of  all? 

*  Bishop  Con  well  is  certainly  entitled  to  sympathy,  that 
he  has  been  entirely  passed  by  in  the  distribution  of 
the  bounties  of  the  faithful.  And  the  good  people  of 
New  Jersey,  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania  which  com- 
pose his  diocese — are  hardly  fairly  dealt  by;  in  having 
their  spiritual  wants  overlooked  by  the  society  of  the 
Propaganda  at  Rome — The  Leopold  Society  in  Austria 
—-and  I  know  not  how  many  besides.  Is  it  not  possi- 
ble to  ascertain  how  much  money  is  annually  contribu- 
ted by  the  papists  of  Europe,  to  Romanize  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  It  is  no  longer  doubtful  however, 
that  an  organised  system  is  on  foot  to  effect  this  object; 
that  many  of  the  oligarchy  of  Europe,  and  especially  the 
royal  house  of  Austria  are  deeply  engaged  in  the  scheme; 
and  that  the  whole  power  of  the  church  of  Rome  is  se- 
cretly but  assiduously  devoted  to  it.  There  are  always 
one  or  two  American  bishops  in  Europe  on  this  errand, 
---and  bishop  England  especially  seems  the  hero  of  the 
plot.  The  rich  give  money;  the  kings  encourage  emi- 
gration; the  poor  unite  in  brotherhoods,  such  as  that  to 
worship  the  heart  of  Mary,  and  pay  for  masses  in  her 
honour,  that  she  may  become  favorable  to  the  great  object; 


PAPAL  PROPAGANDISM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.     123 

sides,  I  have  purchased  a  lot  of  ground  to  build  a  church  upon,  where  it 
is  much  wanted,  in  this  city  ;  bat  I  in  totally  destitute  of  the  means  of 
accomplishing  that  great  object,  without  charitable  aafiftaaee,  which  J 
am  under  the  necessity  of  soliciting,  and  which  1  now  earnestly   recom- 


the  priests  and  nuns  go  forward  (personally  to  the  work. 

This  effort  must  be  met  by  a  corresponding  effort.  We 
must  redouble  our  exertions  to  enlighten  and  convert  the 
papists  of  America.  We  must  contribute  money  in  aid 
of  protestant  efforts  in  Catholic  countries.  We  ought  to 
aid  the  Evangelical  societies  of  France  and  Geneva,which 
are  nobly  engaged  in  efforts  to  spread  the  gospel.  But  it 
is  high  time  that  missions  were  established  by  us  in  all 
papal  countries.  Faithfulness  to  God,  to  our  fellow  men, 
10  our  country,  and  to  our  children  require  this  of  us.--- 
In  the  year  1839,  a  single  society  in  France  sent  nearly 
$70,000  to  aid  the  various  papal  prelates,  &c,  in  the 
United    v  The    items  which   go  to  make  up  the 

sum  stated  above,  are  here  given:  they  are  taken  from  the 
May  No.  for  1840,  of  the  "Annals  of  the  Propagation  of 
the  Faith"  printed  at  Lyons. 
Paid  to  the  Lazarists,  for  the  missions  to 

Missouri  and  Illinois,  the  seminary,  and 

the  college  of  St.  Marie  des  B aniens,      7,000  francs. 
Outfit  of  missionaries  who  left  in  1839  to 

join  those  missions,         -         -         -       9,333  30 
To  the  Jesuits,  for  missions  in   Missouri 

and  New  Orleans,         -         -         -  15,000 

Ditto  in  Kentucky,      -         -         .  6,000 

There  were  also  sent — 
To  my  lord  Eccleston,  arbhbishop  of  Bal- 
timore, -----  7,327 
To  my  lord  Loras,  bishop  of  Dubuque,  52,627 
To  my  lord  Purcell,  bishop  of  Cincinnati,  39,827 
To  my  lord  Fenwick,  bishop  of  Boston,  20,327 
To  my  lord  Kenrick,bishop  of  Philadelphia, 20,327 
To  my  lord  Hughes,  acting  bishop  of  New 

York,  -         -         -         -  831  50 

To  my  lord  Miles,  bishop  of  Nashville,     26,807 
To  my  lord  Fiaget,  bishop  of  Bardstown,  21,409 

226,815  80 


124    PAPAL  PROPAGANDISM  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

mend  to  your  consideration.  Whatever  aid  the  friends  of  religion  m 
your  good  city  may  be  disposed  to  give  on  this  occasion,  by  your  kind 
egency,  can  be  sent  by  good  bills  of  exchange,  drawn  in  my  favour,  on 


Brought  forward,  -         -         -     226,815  80 

To  my  lord  Hailandiere,  bishop  of  Vincen- 

nes, 65,827 

To  my  lord  Rosati,  bishop  of  St.  Louis,  20,327 
To  my  lord  Blanc,acting  bishop  of  Natchez,  10,827 
To  my  lord  England,  bishop  of  Charleston,  13,827 
Outfit  of  missionaries  to  Detroit,  -       4,000 


341,862  80 
This  same  society  is  said  by  the  Catholic  Jllmanac  for 
1839,  in  a  note  on  the  life  of  bishop  Dubourg,  to  have 
sent  $160,000  to  the  United  States  in  a  single  year. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  for  a  moment,  that  these  remit- 
tances are  either  occasional,  or  of  recent  origin.  They 
are  known  to  be  at  least  annual;  and  must  amount  to  im- 
mense sums,  distributed  all  over  our  nation  to  seduce  and 
corrupt  it.  How  long  the  papal  prelates  here,  have  been 
in  the  habit  of  receiving  these  subsidies  from  Europe, 
it  is  diffiult  to  say  with  precision.  There  is  printed  in 
the  "Baltimore  Literary  and  Religious  Magazine"  vol. 
v.  (1839)  pp.  502 — 6,  an  account  current  of  P.  Inglesi, 
a  papal  priest,  and  agent  in  Europe  for  soliciting  funds 
for  bishop  Dubourg,  the  particulars  of  which  curious  and 
authentic  matter  will  appear  on  reference  to  that  work. 
In  that  account,  published  by  Inglesi  himself,  in  the  Phila- 
delphia newspapers  in  November  1823,  during  the  fa- 
mous and  voluminous  quarrel,  between  priest  Hogan,  and 
this  very  bishop  Conwell  and.  others;  occurs  the  follow- 
ing u  Statement  of  the  sums  received  in  Europe  per  ac- 
count of  the  Louisiana  mission" 

From  the  king  of  France,  -       Francs,     4,000 

"     the  king  of  Holland,  -         ■*  7,085 

u     the  emperor  of  Russia,  -         -     20,000 

u  the  emperor  of  Austria,  -  -  20,000 
"  the  king  of  Sardinia,  -  -  -  6,192 
"  his  holiness  the  pope,  -  -  20,000 
"     the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  -     11,474 

u     the  duchess  of  Lucca,  -  -         5,100 

"     sundry  individuals  and  collections,       29,192 


PAPAL  PROPAGANDISM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.     125 

merchants  in  London,  Amsterdam,  Paris,  or  any  of  the  other  great  com- 
mercial cities  in  Europe  or  America,  and  forwarded  to  my  address  in 
Philadelphia,  where  the  same  will  he  gratefully  acknowledged,  and  kept 
for  ever  on  record,  in  the  archives  of  this  diocese. 

By  vour  most  sincere  and  faithful  friend  in  Christ,* 

HENRY  CONWELL,  Bishop  of  Philadelphia. 
Philadelphia,  A.  D.  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1837.,: 


It  seems  then  that  at  least  twenty  years  ago,  the  con- 
spiracy of  the  tyrants  and  bigots  of  Europe,  for  the  ruin 
of  our  country  was  in  active  operation;  and  the  prelates 
and  priests  of  Rome  settled  amongst  us;  then  as  now 
the  agents  of  the  conspiracy. 

*  This  letter  is  obviously  a  circular — and  no  doubt  was 
published  in  the  principal  Catholic  cities  of  Europe.  By 
itself  it  is  of  little  importance;  but  as  a  portion  of  a  great 
system,  and  an  indication  of  the  character  and  objects 
of  that  system,  it  is  worthy  of  profound  regard.  It  is 
sufficiently  humiliating  to  an  American  spirit  that  igno- 
rant and  conceited  foreigners,  who  are  indebted  to  our 
humane  laws,  and  just  institutions  for  ten  thousand  bless- 
ings denied  to  them  in  their  native  land;  should  do  all 
in  their  power  to  create  false  impressions  concerning  our 
real  state,  and  render  us  ridiculous  to  the  enlightened  por- 
tion of  Europe,  by  representations  and  solicitations  which 
are  entirely  unjustifiable.  But  that  such  men  should 
enter  into  a  league  with  all  the  ignorance,  fanaticism,  and 
despotism  of  Europe;  to  effect  objects  as  to  us,  and  our 
country — which  if  successful,  must  destroy  every  thing 
for  which  that  country  is  so  inestimably  precious  to  us, 
and  important  to  the  whole  world;  is  surely  calculated  to 
arrest  the  attention  of  the  nation — and  rouse  it  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  countervailing  exertions.  In  this,  as  in  every 
other  case,  the  path  of  duty,  safety  and  honour,  is  one. 
To  enlighten  and  convert  the  papist  is  to  bless  him — and 
preserve  ouselves. 


11* 


126 


NUMBER    XV. 

PAPAL    PROVINCIAL    COUNCIL;    PREACHING  OF    BISHOP 
ENGLAND; 

The  city  of  Baltimore,  as  the  seat  of  the  arc] 
pal  power  of  Rome  in  the  United   States,  occasionally 
witnesses  the  assemblage  of  all  the  high  and  mighty  dig- 
nitaries  of  that   superstition   in  this   country.*     A  few 


*From  the  Baltimore  Gazette,  May  2,  1837. 
Provincial  Council  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 

We  have  abstained  from  noticing  the  session  of  this  assembly  until  we 
should  be  enabled  to  lay  before  our  readers  such  an  account  as  we  could 
rely  upon  as  fully  correct.  That  which  we  give  is,  in  some  measure 
extracted  from  the  Catholic  Herald  of  Philadelphia,  to  which  additional 
information,  derived  from  a  member  of  the  council  itself,  is  attached. 

The  bishops  of  the  Catholic  church  form  its  legislative  assembly  and 
its  court  of  judicature;  but  their  acts  of  legislation,  and,  in  many  instan- 
ces, especially  of  weightier  causes,  their  judgements  must  be  examined 
by  the  pope,  their  presiding  bishop,  whose  spiritual  jurisdiction  extends 
over  every  portion  of  the  world.  The  object  of  this  examination  is  to 
ascertain  their  conformity  to  the  doctrine  and  the  discipline  of  the  whole 
body  over  which  he  is  placed,  and,  in  many  instances,  his  sanction  is  ne- 
cessary to  their  validity.  The  church  is  divided  into  districts,  which  are 
called  provinces;  and  each  province  into  dioceses. 

^  Each  diocess  is  governed  by  a  bishop,  and  one  of  those  in  each  pro- 
vince is  called  the  archdiocess  or  metropolitan  diocess.  The  bishop  of 
this  see  is  called  the  arch-bishop;  he  can  convoke  the  assembly,  and  pre- 
side in  its  session;  the  other  bishops  are  called  suffragans,  because  their 
suffrages,  united  with  his,  create  the  acts  of  the  council. 

Several  priests  are  usually  invited  as  theologians,  or  canonists,  to  ex- 
amine the  questions  to  be  discussed,  indeed,  the  bishops  may  invite  for 
the  purpose  any  persons  from  whose  experience  or  information  they  ex- 
pect to  derive  aid,  even  though  they  be  not  priests  nor  in  any  orders. — 
The  bishops  and  theologians  assemble  in  congregation  to  receive  the  re- 
ports cf  the  several  committees  to  which  the  different  questions  have 
been  referred  for  a  first  examination  ;  the  matter  of  these  reports  is  open 
to  free  discussion;  the  bishops  subsequently  assemble  in  council  and  act 
upon  the  business  thus  discussed;  their  acts  then  forwarded  to  Rome  for 
approbation,  and,  when  returned  approved,  are  published  and  executed. 
In  most  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  the  tyranny  exercised  over  the 
church,  under  the  pretext  of  its  protection,  has  extended  so  far  as  to  pre- 
vent such  assemblies;  and,  therefore,  during  centuries,  comparatively 
few  provincial  councils  have  been  held  in  Spain,  Portugal,  Erance,  or 
Germany.  Two  had  previously  been  held  in  this  city,  one  in  October, 
1833.     The  council  of  the  present  year  was  opened  on  Sunday,  the  16tb 


PREACHING  OF  BISHOP  ENGLAND.  127 

;years  since,  a  council  was  hold  here — and  its  decrees 
after  being  approved  a#t  Rome,  became  Jaw  for  the 
papists  of  the  nation.  We  Lave  endeavoured  in  vain 
to  lay  our  hands  on  an  authentic  copy  of  the  pn 
ings  of  that  assembly  ;  and  may  not  uncharitably  in- 
fer the  nature  of  the  decrees,  from  the  sedulous  care  with 
which  they   have  been   kept,  from  the   public  eye.     At 


of  April,  the  previous  assembly  having  in  their  decrees  fixed  upon  that  day 
for  itf  commencement. 

The  prelates  present  on  this  occasion  were  ten  in  number,  including  the 
archbishop,  the  most  Rev.  Samuel  Eccleston.  The  bishops  sat  accord- 
ing to  the  order  of  their  consecration,  as  follows  : 

"The  right  Rev.  John  England,  bishop  of  Charleston. 

"The  right  Rev.  Benedict  Fenwick,  bishop  of  Boston. 

"The  right  Rev.  Joseph  Rosati,  bishop  of  St.  Louis. 

"The  right  Rev.  Francis  Patrick  Kenrick,  bishop  of  Arath,  and 
Coadj.  of  Philadelphia. 

"The  right  Rev.  John  Baptist  Purcell,  bishop  of  Cincinnati. 

"The  right  Rev.  Guy  Ignatius  Chabrat,  bishop  of  Bolina,  and  Coadj. 
of  Bardstown. 

"The  right  Rev.  Simon  Gabriel  Brute,  bishop  of  Vincennes. 

"The  right  Rev.  William  Claney,  bishop  of  Orie,  and  Coadj.  of 
Charleston. 

"The  right  Rev.  Anthony  Blanc,  bishop  of  New  Orleans. 

"The  very  Rev.  Felix  Varela,  V.  G.  appeared  as  procurator  of  the 
bishop  of  New  York,  who  sent  reasons  for  his  absence. 

"Three  other  prelates  were  absent,  one  being  in  Europe,  another  call- 
ed away  by  urgent  affairs,  and  a  third,  who  had  set  out  from  a  remote 
diocess,  not  having  succeeded  in  reaching  Baltimore  before  the  close  of 
the  council. 

"The  bishop  of  Boston,  and  the  very  Rev.  Louis  Deluol,  V.  G. 
were  promoters. 

"The  Rev.  Edward  Damphoux  was  secretary. 

"The  Rev.  Charles  White  Associate  secretary. 

"The  Rev.  Francis  L'Homme,  master  of  ceremonies. 

'•The  very  Rev.  William  McSherry  was  present  at  provincial  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  in  Maryland. 

"The  very  Rev.  P.  Verbaegen  as  provincial  of  the  Society  in  Missouri. 

"The  Rev.  John  Hickey,  superior  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 

"The  Rev.  Thomas  Mulledy,  S.  J.  president  of  the  college  at 
Georgetown. 

•"The  Rev.  John  J.  Chanche,  president  of  St.  Mary's  College. 

"The  Rev.  Thomas  Butler,  president  of  the  College  of  St.  Mary's 
near  Emmettsburg. 

"The  Consulting  Theologians  were — The  very  Rev.  Lewis  Debarth. 
The  very  Rev.  Peter  Richard  Kenrick.  The  very  Rev.  John  Hughes. 
The  Rev.  Peter  S.  Schreiber.  The  Rev.  Stephen  Theodore  Badin. — 
The  Rev.  Regis  Loisel.  The  Rev.  Tgnatius  A.  Reynolds.  The  Rev. 
Augustia  Verot." 


128  PAPAL  PROVINCIAL  COUNCIL; 

the  present  time  a  similar  council  is  assembled  in  our 
good  city  called,  perhaps  the  'Third  Provincial  Council 
#c.' ;  and  the  presence  of  "their  lordships,"  as  the  pre- 
lates delight  to  call  themselves,  has  not  only  occasioned 
great  excitement  amongst  the  faithful, ---but  the  public  at 
large  have  been  benefited  by  various  shows,  and  enlight- 
ened by  several  discourses,  on  the  part  of  "the  purple." 
We  have  so  many  occasions  to  pay  our  respects  to  Mr. 
Eccleston  and  his  high  and  mighty  colleagues,  male  and 
female  ;  that  at  present,  we  owe  our  peculiar  service  to 
the  council,  and  especially  to  bishop  England  its  light 
and  grace ! 

It  is  part  of  the  faith  of  every  papist— that  the  deci- 
sions of  a  council  of  the  whole  church,  are  as  infallible, 
and  as  binding  as  the  word  of  God ;  because  they  are 
equally  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  was  once  receiv- 
ed doctrine,  that  the  decisions  of  inferior  councils,  of 
whatever  kind  ;  become  universally  binding  and  infalli- 
ble, if  they  should  acquire  the  sanction  of  the  pope,  and 
the  approbation  of  the  whole  papal  sect.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  ultra  montain  theory,  which  is  the  prevailing 
one  since  the  restoration  of  the  Jesuits,  does  not  allow  a 
council  to  be  general,  unless  the  pope  calls  it  and  ap- 
proves its  decisions;  nor  does  it  allow  the  acts  of  any 
council  to  be  valid  until  submitted  to  his  holiness— and 
assented  to  by  him.  Our  present  council  therefore, 
though  honoured  by  the  presence  of  such  and  so  many 
spiritual  powers,  and  guided  by  the  wisdom  even  of  the 
lord  bishops  of  Charleston  and  Cincinnati;  is  of  no  more 
authority,  than  an  assemblage  of  old  ladies  (excuse  the 
comparison)  ;  nor  their  acts  of  more  value  than  the  waste 
paper  of  their  own  printed  discourses  ;  until  a  miserable 
old  man  at  Rome,  who  calls  himself  Saint  Peter,  under 
the  name  of  Gregory,  shall  examine  and  decide  whether 
or  not  the  Divine  Spirit,  was  really  present  in  the  assembly. 

We  who  are  near  the  scene  of  action,  have  too  much 
reason  to  fear,  that  Gregory  would  be  obliged  to  set  aside 
the  council— if  he  should  make  that  fact  the  ground  of 
his  decision.  If  he  should  decide  on  the  nature  of  the 
council  from  the  character  of  its  acts— we  shall  never 
perhaps  be  able  to  estimate  the  value  of  his  decision;  for 


PREACHING    OF    BISHOP    ENGLAND. 


129 


the  acts  themselves  will  in  nil  probability  be  concealed, 
like  their  predecessors,  from  the  public. 

There  We  several  considerations  connected  with  this 
subject,  which  appear  to  clothe  it  with  an  importance 
which  is  not  generally  attached  to  it.  Jn  the  first  place, 
— what  has  the  pope  of  Rome  to  do  with  the  religion  of 
us  Americans  ?  He  is  a  king— we  are  republicans;  he  is 
a  papist,  and  the  father  of  them— we  are  protestants,and 
mean  to  continue  such  ;  so  that  both  civilly  and  religi- 
ously, we  are  the  very  antipodes  of  each  other,  and  we 
the  especial  objects  of  his  jealousy  and  hatred.  It  seems 
to  us,  that  if  the  episcopal  church  of  the  United  States, 
after  the  American  revolution,  had  continued  its  con- 
nexion with  the  established  church  of  England— and 
with  the  king  of  England  as  its  temporal  head  ;  the  coun- 
try would  have  had  just  grounds  of  suspicion  against 
that  body.  Or  if  the  Presbyterians  of  this  country  had 
insisted  on  occupying  a  subordinate  relation  to  the  Kirk 
of  Scotland,  even  although  that  venerable  body  never 
acknowledged  any  head  but  Christ ;  there  would  have 
been  much  reason  to  suspect  their  loyalty  to  the  country. 
In  the  case  of  the  Papists,  the  argument  is  rendered 
doubly  strong  by  the  fact,  that  their  acknowledged  bead 
is  not  only  a  foreigner  and  a  tyrant,  but  he  professes  to 
be  all  but  a  God.  He  is  not  only  utterly  hostile  to  every 
distinctive  principle  of  our  political  system,  but  his  peo- 
ple here  profess  to  believe  that  he  is  the  vicar  of  God, 
and  spiritually  infallible.  When  wTe  add  to  this  the 
alarming  facts  that  the  majority  of  the  Papists  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  are  foreigners  ;  that  all  their  bishops,  except 
Mr.  Eccleston  are  also  foreigners,  and  nearly  all  their 
priests  aliens;  we  augment  greatly  the  grounds  of  public 
apprehension.  But  the  whole  case  seems  complete  in 
its  evil  aspect,  when  we  remember  that  the  influence  of 
the  atrocious  society  of  the  Jesuits,  is  absolute  over  the 
papal  clergy  of  America;  and  that  the  Roman  communion 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  is  systematically  engaged 
in  a  conspiracy  to  subject  this  country  to  the  influence 
of  the  pope. 

There  is  little  in  the  past  history,  either  of  the  Jesuits 
or  the  entire  papal  sect,  to  lull  our  apprehensions  in  re- 


130  PAPAL  PROVINCIAL   COUNCIL; 

Said  to  their  designs  against  our  country.  Two  centu- 
ries and  a  half  of  unparalleled  crimes,  caused  the  expul- 
sion of  that  society  from  nearly  every  Christian  state,  and 

at  last  forced  the  pope  of  Rome  to  dissolve  it ;  although 
he  foresaw,  as  the  event  proved  truly,  that  he  signed  his 
own  death  warrant,  when  he  signed  the  hull  lor  their 
suppression.  So  also,  the  unvarying  history  of  the  pa- 
pacy shows,  that  no  dissent  from  the  principles  of  Rome, 
has  never  been  tolerated  where  Home  was  able,  by  force 
to  suppress  it  in  the  blood  of  its  martyrs  ;  that  no  people 
lias  preserved  itself  from  the  pope's  domination,  except 
after  long  and  bloody  wars,  and  as  the  fruit  of  victory; 
every  protestant  nation  of  Europe,  has  in  turn  been  the 
theatre  both  of  civil  and  foreign  wars,  waged  solely  to 
reduce  them  to  the  yoke  of  popery  ;  and  are  protestant  at 
this  moment,  only  because  God  has  blessed  their  arms  in 
the  day  of  battle.  With  such  facts  before  our  eyes,  we 
ask  reflecting  men,  what  are  we  to  expect  from  the  secret 
deliberations  of  a  set  of  agents  of  a  foreign  king,  who 
are  bound  to  him  by  interest,  by  the  ties  of  religion,  and 
by  the  most  solemn  oaths;  and  who  in  turn  control  the 
whole  papal  sect  in  this  country  ?  Why  are  their  delib- 
erations secret  ?  Why  are  their  acts  concealed}  Why 
do  they  alone,  of  all  sects  of  religionists,  shun  the  light, 
and  concert  their  plans  darkly  in  suspicious  silence  ;  and 
then  lay  their  unknown  decrees  for  approval,  humbly  at 
the  feet  of  a  prince,  whose  throne  in  all  ages  has  been 
filled  by  the  most  unscrupulous,  ambitious,  and  detesta- 
ble succession  of  rulers,  that  ever  cursed  the  earth  ? 

The  papal  clergy  of  America  have  one  title  to  praise, 
which  few  of  their  brethren  in  other  nations  share  with 
them.  Every  where  else  the  public  services  of  their  re- 
ligion are  all  mummery;  while  with  us  only  nine  tenths 
are  mummery.  That  is,  they  do  in  this  country  make  an 
attempt  to  teach  their  people,  their  moral  duties,  by  pub- 
lie  instructions  on  the  sabbath-day.  Every  where  else, 
this  is  omitted,  as  a  stated  and  uniform  duty ;  and  the 
people  at  ordinary  seasons,  come  and  go,  without  one 
ivord  of  admonition,  instruction  or  reproof  from  those, 
whose  onh/  commission  from  the  Saviour,  if  they  be  in- 
deed his  ministers,   is  to  teach  mankind,  and  so   gather 


PREACHING  OF  BISHOP  ENGLAND.        131 

and  o-uide  the   flock  of  Christ.      Go   teach  all  nations— 
was  the  commission  of  Christ ;  receive  power  to  sacrifice 

for  the  living  and  the  dead,  is  the   ordination  of  Rome. 
Striking  similitude  ! 

During  the  sessions  of  the  present  council  in  Balti- 
more, the  community  has  been  more  than  usually  favored, 
with  these  unusual  instructions.  Bishop  England  has 
been  the  chief,  if  not  the  only  speaker,  and  in  so  far  at 
least,  resembles  Saul  of  Tarsus.  This  good  city  has 
often  before  had  the  fortune  to  enjoy  the  services  of  his 
lordship  ;  and  we  have  therefore  been  all  the  better  pre- 
pared to  profit  by  his  present  efforts  to  enlighten  us. 
Having  once  had  the  advantage  ourself  of  hearing  him 
prove  the  excellence  and  advantage  of  the  holy  inquisi- 
tion, of  which  it  is  confidently  believed  he  is  the  pope's 
inquisitor  general  for  the  U.  S.;  we  were,  of  course,  some- 
what prepared  for  his  lucubrations  on  the  mercifulness  of 
purgatory,  the  delicacy  of  auricular  confession,  and  other 
similar  topics.  We  \vould  respectfully  remind  Mr.  Eng- 
land, that  there  is  an  unsettled  account  between  him  and 
us,  on  the  first  of  these  subjects,  namely  the  inquisition; 
and  that  our  gage  has  been  lying  at  his  feet,  unnoticed 
for  a  number  of  years.  Did  he  formerly  misunderstand 
us  ?  Then  let  us  repeat  what  we  have  said.  We  charge 
the  bishop  with  upholding  a  system,  hateful  to  God,  and 
ruinous  to  man.  We  offer  to  prove  this  charge  against 
him,  or  any  other  bishop,  or  any  man  that  any  bishop 
will  designate  ;  and  the  time,  place,  and  method  are  un- 
der his  own  choice.  If  he  thinks  us  beneath  his  notice, 
we  can  only  beg  him  to  fix  his  august  eye  upon  the  man 
in  the  Presbyterian  church  of  this  country,  whom  he 
deems  worthy  of  his  notice  ;  and  no  effort  of  ours  shall 
be  wanting  to  accommodate  the  matter  to  his  content. 
This  we  have  repeated  in  word  and  in  print,  many  times, 
from  the  autumn  of  1834  to  the  winter  of  1841,  say  six 
years.  We  therefore  humbly  conceive,  that  the  recreant 
party  should  either  change  his  boastful  and  insolent  tone, 
or  vindicate  the  truth  of  his  doctrines  and  the  propriety 
of  his  conduct,  in  some  clear  and  public  manner. 

Our  principal  design  in  introducing  the  bishop's  name, 
at  this  time  ;  is  however  to  speak  of  a  discourse  we  had 


132  PAPAL  PROVINCIAL  COUNCIL; 

the  fortune  to  hear  him  deliver,  at  saint  Patrick's  church 
on  Fell's  Point,  on  the  feast  of  the  ascension.  We  beg 
leave  also  to  direct  attention  to  an  analysis  of  another 
discourse  of  his,  on  auricular  confession,  annexed  to  this 
paper.  It  is  from  the  hand  of  a  friend  who  heard  the 
sermon,  and  may  he  relied  on  as  substantially  correct. 
The  two  representations  will  give  those  who  have  never 
a  SO  fortunate  as  to  hear  the  gentleman  himself--- 
§ome  idea  of  his  manner  and    matter  in  the  pulpit. 

The  sermon  had  already  been  commenced  when  we 
entered  the  little  church,  and  got  well  situated  in  front  of 
the  speaker.  He  stood  in  a  little  barrel  looking  pulpit, 
with  an  image  of  the  virgin  in  a  nich  in  the  wall,  on  his 
left  hand.  The  altar,  garnished  yrith  long  wax  tapers,  a 
figure  of  our  Saviour,  various  pictures,  and  several  men 
and  boys  wTho  looked  as  if  they  were  in  their  shirt  tails, 
but  probably  were  not,  occupied  his  rear  to  the  right ; 
and  further  over  in  that  direction,  was  an  image  of  saint 
Patrick,  in  a  nich  corresponding  to  the  one  occupied  by 
the  virgin.  Mr.  England,  is  a  stout,  ruddy  man  ;  look- 
ing just  as  a  good  papist  might  be  expected  to  look,  after 
keeping  lent,  on  oysters,  terrapins,  and  champagne  wine. 
He  is  a  hail  old  gentleman  ;  and  we  heartily  wish  him  a 
long  life,  and  freedom  from  all  surfeits.  His  dress  was 
rather  gaudy;  and  exceedingly  queer.  Part  white,  part 
lilack,  part  male,  part  female ;  as  unlike  as  possible  to 
that  of  his  audience,  and  not  very  similar,  we  suspect, 
to  that  of  Mr.  Fisherman  Peter.  As  the  enormous  ring 
he  wore  on  the  little  finger  of  his  right  hand,  is  a  badge 
of  his  rank;  we  pass  by  any  suggestion  touching  its  os- 
tentatious display. 

The  manner  of  the  bishop  is  exceedingly  pompous  and 
magnificent;  and  his  rage  for  attitudenising  so  great,  as 
to  weary  both  himself  and  his  hearers.  His  favourite 
posture,  is  a  bad  copy  of^that  in  which  Napoleon  is 
usually  represented,  with  his  arms  crossed  on  his  chest, 
and  one  foot  slightly  projected.  His  utterance  is  fluent, 
and  his  speech  copious.  But  his  pronunciation  is  as  in- 
distinct, as  if  his  mouth  were  full  of  hot  mush;  and  his 
treatment  of  the  king's  English  murderous  to  a  bloody 
degree.     The  words  lt  children  of  Israel"  he  pronounced 


PREACHING  OF  BISHOP  ENGLAND.         133 

several  times  childrin  of  Izreet;  "  Isaac91  he  called  hie; 
"  realms,"  he  pronounced  as  it'  the  word  were  of*  two 
syllables,  and  spelt  rulums;  while  the  word  "  ignominy" 
was  uttered  with  a  strong  accent  on  the  second  syllable, 
ig-nom-iny.  These  are  only  specimens  out  of  a  very 
large  class. 

As  samples  of  the  matter  of  the  discourse,  we  will  at- 
tempt to  state  a  few  of  what  appeared  to  be  the  princi- 
pal ideas  of  the  speaker.  We  have  said  the  subject  was 
the  ascension  of  the  Saviour. 

He  called  attention  to  the  fact,  that  the  Bible  informs 
us  clearly  that  the  Saviour  held  much  familiar  intercourse 
with  his  apostles,  during  the  period  that  intervened  be- 
tween his  resurrection  and  ascension.  Then  he  assert- 
ed that  the  fathers  who  were  cotemporary  with  the  apos- 
tles, inform  us  that  during  this  period,  the  Saviour  taught 
his  disciples — all  those  doctrines  of  the  church,  which  are 
not  found  in  the  Bible;  and  made  all  those  explanations, 
and  gave  all  those  instructions,  which  the  church  has 
faithfully  preserved  to  elucidate  and  complete  the  written 
word ;  and  amongst  these  things,  he  mentioned  particu- 
larly, the  sacraments,  the  mode  of  their  administration, 
&c.  &c.  He  did  not  venture  to  name  any  of  the  fathers, 
by  whom  these  extraordinary  facts  could  be  established  ; 
nor  did  he  seem  to  halt  at  all,  at  the  admission  that  many 
of  his  most  important  doctrines  were  not  contained  in  the 
Scriptures. 

A  second  theme  was  the  promise  of  the  Comforter, 
and  his  coming,  as  a  consequence  of  the  ascension  of  the 
Saviour.  No  part  of  the  Christian  system  is  more  re- 
plete with  majesty  and  glory,  than  that  which  relates 
to  the  purchase,  the  promise,  the  shedding  forth,  and 
the  eternal  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  church; 
as  the  agent  on  the  one  hand  in  the  regeneration  and 
sanctification  of  the  people  of  God,  and  as  the  wit- 
ness on  the  other,  of  the  divine  mission,  infinite  ex- 
altation—  and  eternal  Godhead  of  the  Messiah.  It  was 
therefore  with  sorrow  and  shame  that  we  heard  one  pro- 
fessing to  be  a  Christian  minister,  teaching  a  religious 
assembly,  mean,  erroneous,  and  narrow  views  of  these 
sublime  and  consoling  truths.  The  church  of  Rome  does 
12 


134  PAPAL   PROVINCIAL   COUNCIL; 

indeed  deny  the  new  birth,  as  taught  in  the  word  of  God- 
and  held  up  by  all  who  have  experienced  its  power:  and 

its  ideas  of  holiness  are  limited  to  such  attainments  as 
may  be  made  by  "bodily  exercise" — which  we  know 
of  God,  profiteth  little.  But  we  were  not  prepared  to 
find  the  most  distinguished  prelate  of  the  Ajneri< 
church,  so  utterly  unacquainted  with  spiritual  things- 
even  as  to  any  methodical  head  knowled  cording 
to  the  orator,  this  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  derives  its 
practical  value  from  the  fact,  thai  in  this  way  all  the  d 
mas  of  the  church  are  proved  to  be  of  divine  origin, 
cause  a  divine  spirit  testifies  to  them;  and  to  the  faithful, 
the  comforter  is  so  called,  as  he  dwells  in  the  ordinances 
of  the  church,  in  his  office  as  the  Paraclete.  So  that  the 
most  stupendous  facts  of  religion,  are  so  to  speak,  only 
available  in  the  narrow7  channel  of  a  corrupted  worship; 
and  only  strong  to  uphold  what  is  revolting  and  absurd. 
As  for  example,  are  we  to  believe  that  the  proof  that 
Jesus  is  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God  with  all  power 
—is  only  important  as  it  shows  that  he  is  to  be  worship- 
ped truly,  under  the  appearance  of  a  cake;  and  that  the 
promise  of  a  divine  witness  with  our  spirits  that  we  are 
God's  children— has  its  accomplishment,  when  we  be- 
lieve "what  the  church  tells  us— -and  because  she  tells 
it"-— even  though  she  should  call  perjury  and  blood-guilt- 
iness virtues,  wThen  they  promote  the  cause  of  Rome. 

A  third  point  of  remark,  was  the  glory  of  the  entrance 
of  the  ascended  Redeemer  into  heaven. — The  well 
known  passage  in  1  Peter,  iii.  19 — 21,  was  made  to  teach 
that  Christ  was  occupied  during  the  three  days  that  in- 
tervened between  his  crucifixion  and  resurrection — in 
proclaiming  salvation  to  the  righteous  dead.  The  lo- 
cality of  this  mission  was  not  specified;  and  we  were  left 
to  guess,  whether  we  should  call  it  'limbo' — with  Milton, 
the  "place  of  departed  spirits"  by  permission  of  the 
episcopal  rubric, — or  "hell"  outright,  with  the  papal  cor- 
ruption of  the  apostle's  creed.  The  Idocrine  was  laid 
down  in  the  broadest  terms  that  before  the  ascension  ot 
Christ,  no  human  soul  had  ever  been  admitted  into 
glory;    but  thai   "from  Abe!  to  the  thief  Oil  the  CFOS8 — not 

one  soul  had  ever  entered  paradise;55  such  being  his  own 


PREACHING  OF   BISHOP   KNOLANI).  135 

words.  The  promises  and  declarations  of  Scripture,  to 
the  patriarchs  and  the  Old  Testament  saints,  were  inter- 
preted in  such  a  wav  as  to  Confirm  this  new  and  frightful 
doctrine;  and  the  grand  and  majestie  passages  in  the 
xxiv.  Psalm,  were  especially  adduced  to  prove  the  <: 
trine,  and  illustrate  the  method  of  Christ's  ascension,  fol- 
lowed by  all  the  dead  who  had  died  in  the  Lord  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world — and  who  then  for  the  first  time 
were  admitted  into  their  rest.  Every  Bible  reader  will 
at  once  perceive  the  awful  perversion  of  truth,  involved 
in  such  statements — and  the  total  ignorance  of  Scripture 
which  they  manifest:  we  only  report,  without  aiming  to 
refute  the  nonsense. 

The  last  topic  of  remark  we  shall  repeat,  was  stated 
somewhat  to  the  following  purport  "The  ascension  of 
Christ  to  glory — after  such  a  life  of  humiliation  and  suf- 
fering as  his  had  been,  affords  one  of  the  strongest  pos- 
sible proofs  that  virtuous  efforts,  privations,  &c.  are  of 
themselves  meritorious,  and  that  they  will  be  finally  re- 
warded." There  is  something  exceedingly  painful  and 
affecting,  in  the  manifestation  of  that  species  of  judicial 
blindness,  which  while  it  is  not  utterly  dead  to  the  power 
of  truth — seems  incapable  of  perceiving  it  with  sufficient 
clearness,  to  be  guided  by  it.  The  life  of  Christ  as  con- 
trasted with  his  taking  up  into  heaven — does  undoubted- 
ly afford  the  finest  and  loveliest  incentive  to  virtue,  that 
all  past  time  gives  us,  of  human  conduct.  But  oh!  how 
much  more  does  it  teach  us:  how7  much  higher  and  more 
awful  are  its  lessons!  To  fasten  on  the  lowest  aspect  of 
the  subject,  betrays  a  coarse  and  dull  spirit;  but  to  fix  on 
a  false  analogy,  to  teach  a  fatal  error,— as  the  lesson 
which  the  clearest  truth  inculcates;  exhibits  an  ingenuity 
in  going  astray,  which  nothing  but  the  "strong  delusion" 
to  which  God  has  given  over  the  Roman  hierarchy,  seems 
capable  of  explaining.  What  rational  being,  could 
otherwise  ever  think  of  inferring,  that  the  merit  of  good 
works  and  voluntary  sufferings,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
God  has  accepted  of  the  sacrifice  of  his  Son  for  sinners 
— and  so  can  justify  the  ungodly,  while  he  continues  Just 
himself  ? 

Our  great  controversy  with  Rome,  lies  precisely  here. 
She  has   perverted  and  obscured  the  truth  of  God,  till 


136  PAPAL  PROVINCIAL   COUNCIL, &C. 

she  no  longer  knows  it  herself:  and  the  system  which  she 
teaches,  is  such,  that  he  who  believes  and  practices  it,  is 
only  the  more  confirmed  in  darkness  and  fatal  error.  "We 
unhesitatingly  assert,  as  the  resultof  repeated  attendance 
on  the  public  discourses  of  the  favourite  teachers  of 
Catholicity  wherever  we  have  had  opportunity — that  they 
are  deplorably  ignorant  of  Scripture,  even  a-  i  of 

truth;  and  that  its  influence  on  the  heart  and  conscience, 
in  the  way  of  regeneration  and  sanctificatioD — while  it  is 
pointedly  denied  in  their  faith — is  utterly  unheard  in  their 
preaching,  and  apparently  unknown  in  their  experience. 
Bishop  England,  ubelievest  thou  the  prophets?"  Bishop 
England,  "understandest  thou  what  thou  reddest?" 


ANALYSIS   OF  A  SERMON   OF  THE  LORD   BUHOP   OF    CHARLESTON. 

Bishop  England  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  preached  in  the  cathedral  in  Bal- 
timore on  Tuesday,  May  2d,  1837,  on  the  popish  sacrament  of  penance, 
and  auricular  confession.  The  ohjectof  the  discourse  appeared  to  be  to 
establish  the  divine  authority  of  this  custom  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
church.  lie  stated  that  in  an  early  period  of  his  life,  the  impressions 
made  upon  his  mind,  in  his  ordinary  school  education  were  not  Roman 
Catholic.  He  read  in  one  of  the  school  books  a  remarkable  statement 
which  attracted  his  attention,  viz:  that  Auricular  Confession  was  first 
introduced  in  the  year  1215.  His  curiosity  was  excited  to  read  eccle- 
siastical history,  as  he  could  not  solve  the  difficulty  which  occured  to  his 
mind  from  so  extraordinary  a  fact.  On  investigation  and  examination,  he 
found  the  fact  announced  as  history,  to  be  entire  and  deliberate  falsehood. 
He  had  early  read  that  monarchs  were  proud,  that  kings  were  ambitious, 
that  knights  were  chivalrous;  but  had  not  learned  that  facts  could  be  re- 
corded as  his  history  which  were  false  and  without  foundation.  That  so 
many  people  believed  the  doctrine  of  auricular  confession  to  be  of  divine 
authority,  is  evidence  he  thought  of  their  sincerity  in  adopting  that  be- 
lief.    Monarchs,  senators  and  dukes  went  to  confession. 

How  difficult  now  would  it  be  to  produce  the  conviction  which  then 
existed?  Suppose  it  possible  for  Baltimore  to  adopt  it,  would  Philadel- 
phia, and  New  York,  and  Boston,  and  Charleston  follow;  would  the 
western  world,  would  Europe  join  in  the  belief? 

That  auricular  confession  existed  before  the  year  1215  appeared  to 
him  from  the  testimony  of  many  Catholic  writers,  which  he  quoted  ; 
from  their  opponents  themselves  ;  from  the  j)ractice  of  the  Greek  church 
which  separated  from  the  Latin  in  the  4th  century.  The  bishop  affirm- 
ed that  the  same  writers  who  say  that  auricular  confession  was  first  in- 
troduced in  1215.  also  affirm  that  auricular  confession  was  done  away 
by  Nestorius  of  the  4th  century,  who  seeing  evils  arise  from  public  con- 
fession, enjoined  private  confession  ;  and  drew  an  agreement  in  favour 
of  liis  proposition  from  this  fact,  since  if  it  was  done  away  at  this  period, 
it  existed  before  1215.  Auricular  confession  is  not  a  doctrine  of  the 
dark  ages,  but  existed  under  the  Old  Testament  at  the  giving  of  the  law 


CASE  OF  ELIZA  BURNS,  &C.  137 

lo  Moses  by  Almighty  God  ;  In  the  sacrifices  offered  by  the  priests  of 
the  Mosaic  economy;  and  was  sanctioned  by  Christ,  tin;  Saviour  of  the 
world  and  his  associates.  The  doctrine  was  taught  a*  essential  to  salva- 
tion by  some  of  the  Catholic  writers.  "Except  ye  go  to  penance  ye 
cannot  be  saved,"  was  a  doctrine  taught.  It  is  not  tyranny  over  men's 
consciences,  because  the  humblest  knows  the  bounds  of  the  confessor's 
jurisdiction  The  priest  confesses  to  the  bishop,  the  bishop  to  the  arch- 
bishop, thearchbishop  to  the  pope,  the  pope  to  God. 

The  bishop  called  the  reformation  a  novelty. 

The  cathedral  was  tilled  with  a  crowd,  and  he  was  attentively  heard 
by  the  assembly.  The  text  was  from  John  xx.  22  23.  "  Receive 
ye  the  Holy  Ghost,  whosoever's  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted;  and 
whosoever's  sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained."  Which  was  explained 
to  mean,  not  that  the  priests  and  bishops  could  forgive  sins,  but  that  from 
confession  they  can  form  a  judgment  whose  sins  should  be  forgiven. 


NUMBER   XVI. 

CASE  OF  ELIZA  BURNS,  THE  ABDUCTED  ORPHAN. 

We  have  just  been  made  acquainted  (August  1837) 
with  a  story  of  great  and  painful  interest,  which  we  take 
the  responsibility  of  making  public;  in  the  hope  and  with 
the  design  that  an  enlightened  and  informed  public  sen- 
timent may  come  to  the  aid  of  the  laws,  in  restraining  the 
outrageous  proceedings  of  some  of  the  papal  functiona- 
ries, institutions,  and  people  in  this  city.  We  freely 
give  names  and  facts;  and  hold  ourself  responsible,  for 
the  general  accuracy  of  the  following  statements. 

Some  years  ago,  an  Irishman  by  the  name  of  Burns, 
who  was  perhaps  originally  a  papist,  married  in  this  city, 
or  at  least  in  this  section  of  the  United  States,  a  Protest 
ant  Irish  girl  from  Dublin,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Walker.  About  three  years  ago,  the  female  died  in  Bal- 
timore, leaving  three  infant  children — all  girls.  In  her 
last  illness,  she  was  repeatedly  visited  and  greatly  harass- 
ed by  one  or  more  of  the  priests  of  this  city;  but  she  re- 
jected all  their  attempts  to  proselyte  her,  and  died  in  the 
faith  of  her  fathers.  Her  dying  injunctions — like  her 
12* 


138  CASE  OF  ELIZA  BURNS, 

living  precepts,  were  thnther  little  girls  should  on  no  ac- 
count be  allowed  to  come  under  the  influence  of  the  po- 
pish religion,  or  its  wily  ministers,  In  the  house  in  which 
she  died,  lived  an  Irish  Protestant  of  advanced  age, 
named  Eliza  Gifford  ;  to  whose  eare  the  children  were 
left  by  their  dying  mother — and  in  whose  cafe  they  re- 
mained till  her  own  death  ;  which  occurred  on  the  21st 
day  of  June  1837. 

The  Burnses  were  poor;  and  Eliza  Gifford  had  little 
else  than  a  small  annual  stipend,  of  which  m  .. — 

After  the  death  of  Mrs.  Burns,  her  husband,  who  had  be- 
fore been  a  gardener  in  the  employment  of  various  per- 
sons in  and  about  Baltimore;  removed  near  to  Harper's 
Ferry — where  he  took  sick  and  died,  about  the  latter 
part  of  the  summer  of  1836.  He  had  allowed  his  little 
girls  to  remain  with  Eliza  Gifford  constantly,  since  their 
mother's  death;  and  had  as  he  was  able,  discharged  his 
duty  as  a  father,  kindly  to  them — contributing  more  or 
less  towards  their  support.  The  little  property  of  which 
he  died  possessed,  came  into  the  hands  of  Mrs.  Gifford  ; 
and  it  and  the  children  remained  without  question  with 
her,  till  her  death. 

Mrs.  Gifford,  was  a  woman  of  good  family  in  Ireland  ; 
had  received  a  superior  education — and  been  raised  a 
lady.  In  consequence  of  the  troubles  in  Ireland  during 
the  rebellion,  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  ;  she  was  re- 
duced to  want,  and  deprived  of  all  her  relatives.  She 
was  compelled  to  stand  by,  and  witness  the  death  of  her 
whole  family — who  were  burned  to  death  in  their  own 
house  ;  a  fate  which  they  suffered  in  common,  with  mul- 
titudes of  other  Protestants,  at  the  hands  of  the  priest  rid- 
den and  fanatical  mob  of  Irish  papists,  in  that  day  of 
blood.  Her  state  of  mind,  in  regard  to  the  papacy  may 
be  easily  conceived ;  nor  did  she  at  any  time  conceal  it. 
Her  chief,  if  not  only  means  of  support  of  late  years,  has 
been  an  annuity  of  about  $75 — which  she  regularly  got 
from  abroad  through  the  house  of  Alexander  Brown  and 
Sons  ;  and  which,  there  is  some  reason  to  suppose,  was 
allowed  her  as  a  pension  by  the  British  government. — 
This  pittance  she  nobly  shared,  for  above  three  years, 
with  the  little  orphans  whom  God  had  so  strangely  com- 


THE  ABDUCTED  ORPHAN.  139 

mitted  to  her  care;  and  was  to    them,    as  \vc  know  from 
the  best  \  11  that  a  mother  could  be.     During  all 

this  period,  not  a  single  Papist  in  Baltiq 

offered  to  render  the  least  aid  in  supporting  the  child:  • 
nor  did  any  of  them  manifest  the  slightest  interest  in  their 
welfare — either  before  or  after  the  death  of  their  lather. 

Some  short  time  ago,  Mrs.  GifTord  took  sick;  and  af- 
ter an  illness  somewhat  protracted,  died.  During  her 
last  sickness,  she  was  visited  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henshaw, 
and  by  various  other  benevolent  individual*;  and  amongst 
the  rest  by  Mrs.  Keywurth.  This  lady,  had  already  re- 
ceived into  her  family  the  eldest  of  the  three  orphans, 
who  had  been  regularly  bound  to  her  husband,  at  the  re- 
quest of  Mrs.  Gifford;  and  it  was  the  dying  request  of  the 
latter,  that  she  should  take  the  charge  of  the  other  two 
little  girls — obtain  a  suitable  place  for  the  second  one — 
and  place  the  youngest  in  the  orphan  school  in  Mulber- 

-treet  (which  is  not  papal  as  yet)  until  it  was  old 
enough  to  go  to  service,  and  then  take  it  herself.  Mrs. 
Key  worth  and  her  husband  are  both  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church.  These  facts  are  proven 
by  the  lady  herself — by  all  who  had  access  to  Mrs.  Gif- 
ford in  the  last  months  of  her  life,  and  by  the  eldest  child, 
with  whom  we  have  freely  conversed,  and  who  is  an  in- 
telligent girl  of  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age.  They  are 
also  abundantly  confirmed  by  the  followin 2:  written  state- 
ment of  Dr.  Henshaw,  copied  by  us,  from  the  original,  in 
the  hands  of  the  person  to  whom  he  gave  it — for  a  pur- 
pose which  will  be  stated  presently. 

Baltimore,  June  22,  1S37. 
Mrs.  Eliza  Gifford,  who  died  yesterday,  and  has  had  charge  of  three 
orphan  children  by  the  name  of  Burns,  stated  to  me  on  her  death  bed 
that  she  wished  the  eldest  child  to  remain  with  Mrs.  Kevworth,  and  de- 
sired that  a  good  place  might  be  secured  for  Fanny,  the  second  child,  and 
that  Elizabeth  the  youngest,  should  be  placed  at  the  Baltimore  Female 
Orphan  Asylum,  in  Mulberry  street:  and  furthermore  that  they  should  be 
educated  in  the  principles  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church. 

Signed,  J.  P.  K.  HENSHAW. 

Eliza  Gifford  paid  the  great  debt  of  nature  on  the  21st 
of  June  ;  and  about  sunrise,  on  the  next  morning:,  a  Pap- 
ist woman  of  the  name  of  Hammond,  who  resides  on 
Fell's  Point,  secretly  stole  away  the  two  youngest  chil- 


140  CASE  OF  ELIZA  BURNS, 

dren  from  the  house,  in  which  the  dead  body  of  their 
last  earthly  protector,  still  lay  unburied  ! — Through  the 
persuasions  of  a  Papist  woman  living  in  the  house,  these 
two  children  had  been  permitted  to  remain  during  the 
night,  with  her;  and  when  next  morning  they  were 
called  for,  Dr.  Henshaw,  Mrs.  Keyworth,  and  others, 
were  informed,  that  this  Mrs.  Hammond,  had  come  from 
the  opposite  end  of  the  city,  and  claiming  to  be  u  god- 
mother" as  they  called  it,  to  the  second  child,  took  tin 
both  off.  The  second  one  she  carried  to  her  own  house. 
The  youngest  one  she  so  disposed  of,  that  it  was  early 
that  morning  safely  lodged  in  the  Papal  Orphan  Asylum, 
near  the  cathedral,  called  we  believe,  St.  Mary's  Orphan 
Asylum ;  into  which  it  was  thus  privately  introduced,  as 
we  have  every  reason  to  believe  with  the  connivance,  if 
not  by  the  aid  of  Bishop  Eccleston,  Miss  Spaulding, 
and  Mrs.  Luke  Tiernan. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Keyworth,  accompanied  by  other  friends, 
and  in  execution  of  the  duty  laid  upon  them  by  the  oft 
expressed  wishes,  and  dying  injunction  of  Mrs.  Gifford  ; 
set  about  ascertaining  the  fate  of  the  two  children,  and 
if  possible,  recovering  their  persons.  The  eldest  one,  as 
before  stated,  was  already  in  their  charge.  After  some 
enquiry — the  facts  stated  above,  were  ascertained  ;  and 
the  Papists  whose  names  are  given,  were  each  repeatedly 
visited  during  the  course  of  the  day  on  Saturday  and 
Monday  succeeding  the  death  of  Mrs.  Gifford  ;  by  Mr, 
and  Mrs.  Keyworth,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thorps,  Mr.  Paul, 
and  perhaps  others.  On  Monday  several  of  them  went 
to  the  Papist  Mrs.  Hammond — who  after  much  difficulty, 
partly  by  persuasion,  partly  by  the  openly  expressed 
wishes  of  the  child,  but  chiefly  perhaps,  by  threats  of  a 
legal  prosecution  for  carrying  it  off,  or  seducing  it  away 
from  its  rightful  protectors  ;  was  reluctantly  induced  to 
give  up  the  second  child,  which  remains  with  its  proper 
friends.  Blessed  be  the  God  of  the  helpless  orphan,  who 
has  raised  up  active  and  efficient  friends,  for  those  little 
ones,  in  a  land  of  strangers,  amongst  whom  there  dwells 
not  one  individual,  having  a  drop  of  their  blood;  and 
where  they  find  themselves  suddenly  environed  by  so 
great  snares,  dangers,  and  troubles. 


THE  ABDUCTED  ORPHAN.  141 

Mr.  Eccleston,  Mrs.  Tiernan,  and  Miss  Spaulding, 
were  made  of  other  materials  than  Mtti,  Hammond. 
Again  and  again,  were  tiny  each  waited  on,  by  the  anx- 
ious friends  of  the  little  orphan  of  six  or  seven  jr< 
whom  sister  Bridget,  or  perhaps  sister  Clotilda,  had  al- 
ready safely  deposited  in  the  secret  places  of  the  asylum; 
and  from  which,  a  word  from  either  of  these  persons, 
would  have  at  once  set  her  free.  We  cannot  forget  the 
story  of  Mary  Elizabeth  Little,  which  the  name  of  sister 
Clotilda  recalls.  Her  case  is  fully  stated  in  vol.  i.  pp. 
341—2,  (December  1835)  of  the  'Bait.  Lit.  and  Rel. 
Magazi?}e;  and  to  elucidate  the  present  subject,  the  state- 
ment of  her  friends  published  at  that  time,  is  annexed  in 
a  note.*     The  abduction  of  children  is  not  a  newT  busi 


♦Mary  Elizabeth  Little  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  on  the  1st 
day  of  July,  1835.  Her  father  died  whilst  she  was  an  infant,  and  she 
was  brought  up  by  her  grandmother.  The  grandmother  has  been  for  the 
last  four  years  a  cripple;  is  now  between  seventy  and  eighty  years  of  age; 
and  has  been  dependent  on  Mary  almost  exclusively,  for  personal  care 
and  nursing,  for  some  years.  The  grandmother,  has  been  residing  with 
the  girl,  for  some  time  in  Paca  street,  Baltimore,  in  the  rear  of  Saint 
Mary's  Seminary. 

Mary  Elizabeth  Little  is  an  intelligent  and  affectionate  tempered  girl, 
of  good  character;  and  until  she  became  intimate  with  the  Catholics, 
was  a  great  comfort  to  her  mother  and  aged  grandmother. 

On  the  2nd  day  of  September  1835,  about  day-light,  this  girl  left  the 
house  of  her  grandmother,  and  has  not  since  been  seen  by  her  or  her 
mother.  Two  days  after  she  left  the  house,  the  grandmother  received  a 
note  from  her,  dated  on  the  morning  she  left  home,  stating  that  she  was 
in  as  decent  and  safe  a  place  as  there  was  in  the  city  of  Baltimore;  that 
she  was  to  go  into  the  country  the  next  morning,  and  that  when  she  ar- 
rived at  the  place  of  her  destination  she  would  let  her  grandmother  know, 

The  mother  of  the  girl  went  in  search  of  her  immediately,  enquiring 
at  several  of  the  Catholic  Institutions  in  the  city;  but  for  five  or  six  days 
could  get  no  correct  information  about  her  child.  At  length  she  heard 
that  she  had  been  sent  from  the  Catholic  Orphan  School,  in  Franklin 
street,  under  the  care  of  sister  Clotilda.  The  girl  had  never  been  sent  to 
that  school.  The  mother  called  on  sister  Clotilda,  who  told  her  that  the 
girl  had  come  to  her  with  an  order  for  admission  into  the  Institution  at 
Emmettsburg,  from  Dr.  Deluol,  who  is  the  superior  of  St.  Mary's 
Seminary,  (in  this  city:)  and  that  she  had  been  sent  there  by  his  direc- 
tion, in  company  with  a  young  woman  from  New  York.  Since  that  time 
Dr.  Deluol  has  received  a  letter  acknowledging  her  arrival  at  Em- 
mettsburg. 

About  ten  days  after  Mary  Elizabeth  Little  left  the  house  of  her  grand- 
mother, she  received  a  note  from  her  dated  Sept.  6th,  which  was  brought 
to  her  from  Saint  Mary's  Seminary,   but  without  stating  where  it  was 


142  CASE  OF  ELIZA   BURNS, 

ness,  with  some  of  the  ])apists  of  our  city  ;  but  any  regu- 
lar attempt  to  reclaim  them,  we  believe  La  somewhat  no- 
vel. Indeed  we  feare  the  bishop's  word  for  this.  For 
on  being  pressed  for  an  order  to  the  asylum  for  the  de- 
livery of  the  child,  he  not  only  declared  he  had  DO  power 
to  give  it  (which  nobody  credited;)  but  most  solemnly, 
and  in  the  deep  wonderment  pfignoranl  im  de- 

clared he  had  never  had  such  a  request  made  of  him  be- 
fore! Alack — adasey!  to  think  that  wicked  Protestants, 
should  be  so  silly,  as  to  suppose  that  nuns  and  priests, 
have  not  the  "  sovereignest  remedy  in  the  world"  for  all 
the  evils  of  life  ;  and  that  the  secret  recesses  of  their  un- 
explored, and  unexplorable  man-traps  and  woman  traps, 
are  not  the  very  seats  of  all  the  virtues  !  Alack-a-day  ! 
The  silly  wicked  Protestants  ! 

Through  the  greater  part  of  two  whole  days,  the  friends 
of  these  abducted  children,  went  backwards  and  forwards 
— to  Mr.  Eccleston,  Mrs.  Tiernan,  Miss  Spaulding,  and 
the  orphan  school,  over  which  those  individuals  are  un- 
derstood to  exercise  control.  We  forbear  to  comment 
on  the  evasions,  the  twistings,  the  petty  meanness  of  Mr. 
Eccleston,  reported  to  us,  by  these  worthy  persons.  We 
had  hoped,  that  he  had  not  forgotten,  in  becoming  a  Je- 
suit, and  a  sworn  vassal  of  the  pope  ;  that  he  was  once 
a  gentleman,  and  a  free  American.  Such  also  seem  to 
have  been  the  feelings  of  Dr.  Henshaw  in  giving  Mrs. 
Keyworth  the  note  copied  above ;  and  upon  the  mere 

written;  in  which  the  girl  said  she  had  got  a  place  for  life — she  had  found 
a  friend — God  was  her  friend — He  had  opened  her  eyes — he  was  hap- 
py, &c.  &c. 

The  circumstances  of  Mrs.  Geddes,  and  the  situation  of  Mary  Eliza- 
beth Little,  her  place  of  abode,  and  all  about  her  was  fully  known  to 
Dr.  Deluol.  The  grand-mother,  mother,  and  uncle  of  the  girl,  are 
none  of  them  Catholics;  were  all  ignorant  of  any  purpose  to  carry  off 
the  child  until  she  was  privately  removed  out  of  their  reach — and  have 
been  informed  by  competent  legal  advisers,  that  there  is  no  legal  method 
to  recover  the  girl,  or  get  redress;  inasmuch  as,  amongst  other  things, 
■he  had  Attained,  before  her  departure,  the  age  of  sixteen,  which,  by  the 
laws  of  Maryland,  is  mature  age  in  such  cases,  in  females. 

The  mother,  grand-mother,  and  uncle  of  Mary  Elizabeth  Little,  de- 
clare the  lull  troth  of  all  the  foregoing.  Any  person  having  doubts  on 
the  subject,  will  call  on  .Mrs.  deckles  the  grand-mother,  or  on  the  mo- 
ther, or  uncle. 

Baltimore t  Nov.  1835. 


THE  ABDUCTED  ORPHAN*. 


143 


presentation  of  which  to  Mr.  Eccleston,  tlitMloclor  be- 
lieved, and  doubtless  thought  lie  had    reason   to   believe, 

that  the  child  Eliza  limns,  would  be  immediately  deliv- 
ered to  her  friends.     But  after  all  other  shifts  had  been 

used  u\  vain,  all  the  heads  of  the  school  and  the  church 
slipped  their  necks  adroitly  out  of  the  case,  as  responsi- 
ble actors;  and  referred  the  applicants  for  justice  to  a 
new  and  mighty  power  "  behind  the  throne,  greater  than 
the  throne  itself." 

In  the  Bait.  Lit.  and  Rel.  Magazine  for  May  1836,  is 
an  account  of  a  Baltimore  lawyer,  who  entered  into  a 
conspiracy  with  the  famous  prince  Hohenloe,  to  work  a 
notable  miracle  ;  which  unhappily  failed.  In  the  Jan- 
uary, March,  and  November  Nos.  for  1835 — are  accounts 
of  incidents  in  the  lives  of  priests  De  Barth  and  Deluol; 
in  which  are  references  to  the  same  remarkable  person- 
age—as the  especial  friend  of  the  first  named  priest,  in 
trying  to  extricate  him  from  charges  brought  by  a  girl 
who  had  the  night  mare,  and  whom  he  persuaded  to  be- 
lieve herself  ridden  by  her  mother's  ghost.  The  same 
March  No.  of  1835,  contains  another  allusion  to  this  il- 
lustrious person— as  the  lawyer  on  a  certain  occasion  for 
one  priest  Smith,  of  very  famous  memory  in  these  parts 
as  a  burner  of  bibles  and  forger  of  wills,  in  his  day. — 
Now  we  have  in  this  unhappy  story— the  same  referee  of 
all  troubled  priests,  figuring  as  the  grand  master  of  cere- 
monies in  the  finale  of  the  matter. 

And  who  may  this  renowned  advocate  be?  Ah!  reader 
it  would  indeed  argue  yourself  unknown— not  to  know 
Mr.  John  Scott.  A  gentleman  who  having  been  born 
and  raised  a  Protestant,  was  so  fortunate  as  to  discover, 
that  the  right  of  private  judgment,  was  a  burden  and 
vexation,  as  well  as  a  sinful  figment;  and  so  happy  as  to 
find  other  persons,  modest  and  competent  enough  to  take 
this  whole  matter  off  his  hands  in  all  his  intercourse  with 
God.  A  gentleman  so  sagacious,  that  while  the  world 
was  disputing  whether  the  moon  was  made  of  green 
cheese  or  not— discovered  by  intuition  that  the  Godhead 
abides  as  an  object  of  worship,  under  the  aspect  of  a 
flour  wafer!  A  gentleman  so  ripe  in  faith,  that  he  risked 
his  system  of  religion,    on  prince  Hohenloe's  power  to 


144  CASE  OF  ELIZA  BURNS. 

work  a  miracle  on  his  own  body,  at  the  distance  of  four 
thousand  miles;  and  then  when  the  prince  failed,  only 
remained  the  more  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
that  which  required  no  miracle  to  confirm  it!  A  gentle- 
man so  consistent  in  his  fidelity,  that  having  espoused 
doctrines  which  seem  to  poor  heretics  incapable  of  be- 
lief, and  which,  as  they  contradict  reason,  consciousness, 
common  sense,  and  physical  sense  to  boot,  must  be  very 
hard  to  believe;  has  yet  the  goodness  to  act  as  if  they 
were  very  easy  to  believe;  and  thus  voluntarily  surrender- 
ing all  the  honours  and  advantages  of  a  double  apostacy, 
countenances  by  his  great  example,  every  thing  that  or- 
dinary men  might  be  ashamed  to  propound,  backward  to 
avow,  or  disposed  to  recant,  under  the  frowns  of  an  in- 
credulous world!  Illustrious  gentleman!— we  treasure, 
the  honour  which  Protestantism  has  won  by  giving  birth 
to  him.  Rara  avis  in  turris!. —which  for  the  unlearned 
we  render,  " attorney  of  Smith  and  De  Barth!"  Nigroque 
similima  signo!— well  translated,  "final  referee  in  the  case 
of  the  abducted  child,  Eliza  Burns?" 

As  soon  as  the  name  of  this  great  lawyer  was  announ- 
ced, the  whole  case  took  a  new  turn.  "You  must  go  to 
Mr.  John  Scott;"  said  Mr.  Eccleston,  "You  must  go 
to  Mr.  John  Scott" — repeated  in  succession,  Miss  Spaul- 
ding,  Mrs.  Tiernan,  and  the  ladies  at  the  orphan  school. 
And  doubtless — every  utterance  of  that  name, — clarum, 
venerabile — caused  a  tremor  in  the  nerves,  and  a  palpita- 
tion at  the  hearts,  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thorps,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Keyworth — Mr.  Paul,  and  all  the  rest  who  heard  it.  And 
to  Mr.  John  Scott  they  did  go.  But  before  doing  so,  they 
went  to  obtain  counsel,  if  any  could  be  found  bold  enough 
to  risk  themselves  against  papal  prejudices,  insolence  and 
dictation.  They  went  also,  to  ask  redress  of  the  legal 
tribunals  of  the  commonwealth ;  who  thank  God,  have 
not  yet  learned  the  lesson  of  "mother  church,"  that  the 
temporal  sword  is  subject  to  the  spiritual  one,  and  that  it 
is  wielded  only  in  subordination  to  it.  They  were  suc- 
cessful in  both  applications.  Messrs.  R.  Moale,  E.  L. 
Finley  and  II.  D.  Evans,  readily  agreed  to  advocate  their 
righteous  cause;  and  on  the  Monday  following  the  death 
of  Mrs.    Gifford,  the   orphan's    court,  having  heard  the 


THE  ABDUCTED  ORPHAN.  145 

whole  case,  promptly,  and  lo  their  great  honour  decided 
it.     The  second  child  which  had  been  secretly  carried  to 

Fell's  Point,  by  Mrs.  Hammond,  and  recovered  as  al- 
ready stated,  was  allowed  to  remain  in  the  possesion  of 
her  friends,  and  hound  to  Mr.  Paul.  The  youngest  one, 
which  Mrs.  Hammond  declared  she  had  carried  to  St. 
Mary's  Asylum,  and  which  Mr.  Eccleston,  Mrs.  Tier- 
nan,  Miss  Spaulding,  and  the  sisters  at  that  asylum,  ad- 
mitted was  there,  and  which  the  orphan's  court  was  duly 
informed  was  then  retained  by  force,  after  having  been 
abducted  by  fraud;  this  child,  the  court  placed  under  the 
care  of  Mr.  Paul,  by  appointing  him  its  guardian. 

Fortified  by  competent  advice  and  armed  with  legal 
power,  Mr.  Paul  demanded  his  young  ward  again,  from 
all  the  parties  who  seemed  to  have  a  hand  in  her  detention; 
and  again  the  answer  was — "go  to  Mr.  John  Scott."  To 
Mr.  John  Scott  accordingly  did  the  friends  of  the  poor 
child  go.  To  Mr.  John  Scott  did  they  go;  and  exhibit 
the  legal  evidence  that  Mr.  Paul  was  the  guardian  of  the 
abducted  orphan.  But  what  was  "Hecuba  to  him  or  he 
to  Hecuba,"  that  Mr.  John  Scott  should  swerve  from  his 
accustomed  mood,  at  such  a  case!  What  is  law — what 
is  justice — what  are  the  bonds  of  social  life — what  are 
the  orphan's  tears — or  the  dying  prayers  of  parents  and 
honoured  benefactors;  nay  what  should  they  be,  to  a  true 
son  of  uholy  mother" — if  her  commands  or  interest 
point,  in  another  direction?  Mr.  John  Scott  if  a  true 
son  of  "holy  mother,"  believes  as  she  believes;  and  she 
belives  as  he  believes;  and  they  both  believe  alike!  Mr. 
John  Scott  therefore  was  hardly  to  blame,  for  being  rude 
to  applicants  for  restitution,  in  a  case  so  difficult,  and  so 
very  dubious;  nor  even  for  open  and  contemptuous  dis- 
regard of  the  decisions  of  one  of  the  judicial  tribunals 
of  his  country,  in  a  case  where  his  church  deemed  her- 
self interested — and  had  at  least  deeply  implicated  her 
character.  Mr.  John  Scott,  positively  refused  to  cause, 
or  allow  the  delivery  of  the  abduoted  and  secreted  child, 
to  its  proper  friends,  and  legal  guardian;  announced  his 
resolute  purpose,  to  contest  the  matter  to  the  farthest  ex- 
remity— and  by  every  possible  means;-  and  discharged 
13 


146  CASE   OF   ELIZA   BURNS; 

the  applicants  for  redress  at  his  hands-— with  little  less 
than  contumely. 

Here  we  pause  for  the  present.  When  the  cause  has 
been  decided  by  the  proper  tribunals — we  shall  record 
that  decision,  and  detail  so  much  of  the  intermediate  pro- 
cess and  facts,  as  may  seem  proper.  Mean-time  the  case 
as  already  developed  presents  a  subject  of  most  srrious 
consideration.  Are  the  papists  of  this  town,  th< 
of  us  all  in  such  a  sense  that  our  children  and  wards  can 
be  stolen  from  their  friends  .before  our  bodies  are  buried 
— and  so  secreted  that  those  friends  cannot  recover  them? 
Then  it  is  high  time  to  look  about  for  a  remedy  against 
such  a  despotism.  Are  the  papal  institutions  and  func- 
tionaries both  male  and  female,  vested  with  authority  to 
catch  up  people's  children  wherever  they  can  get  access 
to  them;  and  by  right  or  against  right,  retain  them  by 
fraud  or  violence,  under  their  control?  If  so,  it  were 
well  to  look  needfully  after  our  little  ones,  and  to  have 
an  eye  to  those  pretended  asylums  which  may  be  so 
readily  converted  into  prisons.  Are  the  persons  of  free 
citizens,  of  whatever  age,  liable  to  be  taken  into  custody; 
and  there  held  under  the  secret  control  of  Mr.  Eccleston, 
and  Mr.  John  Scott;  until  the  tardy  and  uncertain  steps 
of  law  shall  find  relief,  or  lagging  far  behind  its  vigilant 
despisers,  fail  of  ever  reaching  the  secret  cell  of  the 
captive?  In  such  a  case,  we  shall  provide  for  our  own 
freedom  as  well  as  safety;  and  those  of  us  who  are  so 
often  the  objects  of  personal  threats,  must  take  care,  that 
those  who  have  this  power  to  oppress,  shall  be  held  re- 
sponsible in  their  own  fashion,  for  its  exercise.  We  say 
to  Mr.  Eccleston,  and  to  Mr.  John  Scott,  and  to  all  the 
rest  of  the  wire-workers,  in  this  and  similar  cases;  that 
it  were  well  for  them  to  be  careful  of  their  proceedings. 
We  know  the  power  of  the  priests  over  their  own  people; 
and  the  moment  it  shall  be  manifest  that  the  laws  cannot 
protect  us,  from  the  tools  of  the  ecclesiastics;  from  that 
moment,  we  become  not  only  of  right,  but  of  necessity, 
our  own  protectors;  and  in  caring  for  our  liberty,  our 
rights  and  our  safety— we  shall  hold  those  who  really 
have  the  power  to  injure  us,  responsible  for  the  acts  of 
all  their  subordinate   agents.      We  begin  to  be  weary  of 


THE  ABDUCTED  ORPHAN.  147 

hearing  threats,  which  we  are  convinced  nothing  but  a 
suitable  opportunity  is  lacking,  to  sec  enforced.  And  we 
tell  Mr.  EcclestOil  fairly,  that  lie  will  be  held  responsible 
for  whatever  evil  shali  befall  us,  or  our  friends  in  the 
course  of  this  controversy,  from  the  hands,  or  by  the 
procurement  of  his  dependants.  We  fear  them  not,  but 
we  knowT  them.  We  utter  no  threats  against  any  man; 
but  we  understand  fully  our  real  posture.  And  such 
cases  as  the  present,  render  it  necessary  to  say  to  others, 
that  we  well  understand  theirs  also. 


FINALE    OF    THE    CASE    OF    ELIZA    BURNS. 

We  promised  to  report  the  issue  of  the  case  of  the  or- 
phan child;  the  narrative  of  whose  abduction  by  certain 
papists  of  Baltimore,  occupies  the  preceding  pages. — 
It  has  been  our  purpose  and  earnest  wTish,  to  lay  some- 
what minutely  before  the  public,  the  steps  taken  in  this 
trial,  and  the  conduct  of  all  the  parties  connected  with  it, 
up  to  the  issue  of  the  matter.  But  we  have  been  so 
much  pressed  by  other  engagements,  and  have  found  so 
much  difficulty  in  arranging  a  detailed  narrative,  which 
should  be  at  once  of  sufficient  interest  to  command  atten- 
tion, and  so  accurate  as  to  forbid  just  complaint ;  that  on 
the  whole,  we  have  been  obliged  to  pass  it  by  for  the  pre- 
sent. Nor  indeed  is  such  a  detail  of  more  than  second- 
ary importance.  For  it  is  sufficiently  manifest,  by  our 
own  experience  and  that  of  other  Protestants  in  this  coun- 
try for  a  few  years  past;  that  the  services  of  able  counsel 
can  always  be  had,  whenever  a  resort  to  the  courts  of  jus- 
tice is  considered  adviseable  against  the  audacious  acts  of 
the  papists;  and  therefore  the  information  to  be  derived 
from  the  first  successful  attempts  to  check  them  by  legal 
process,  is  the  less  important  to  the  Christian  public. 

We  will  take  leave,  however  to  say,  that  the  thanks 
of  the  Christians  of  this  city  are  due  to  Hugh  Davy 
Evans,  Esq.,  for  his  generous  and  successful  efforts  in 
the  case  now  under  consideration.  E.  L.  Findlay, 
Esq.,  was  prevented,  only  by  severe  indisposition,  from 
taking  an  active  part  in  the  case  :  and  Randall  Moale 
Esq.,  who   was  the  first  counsel  employed,   abandoned 


148  CASE  OF   ELIZA    BURNS; 

the  cause  at  a  very  early  stage  of  it ;  for  reasons,  which 
although  we  are  informed  of  them,  through  those  to  whom 
he  communicated  them,  at  least  in  part;  we  presume  he 
would  prefer  stating  himself;  and  in  regard  to  which  our 
reverence  for  the  noble  profession  to  which  we  were  bred, 
makes  us  prefer  to  be  silent. 

Of  all  the  classes  of  men  who  adorn  modern  society, 
and  to  whom  liberty  and  civilization  are  indebted  for 
their  triumphs  and  their  security;  there  is  S<  ar<  ely  one 
more  deservedly  dear  to  mankind,  than  the  legal  profes- 
sion. Nothing  surely,  is  a  more  radical  proof  of  igno- 
rance and  malignity  combined,  than  those  sneers  which 
are  too  often  heard,  against  a  profession  wThich  has  been 
in  all  ages,  the  bulwark  of  all  the  temporal  interests  of 
man,  and  which  has  produced  from  amongst  its  ranks 
more  glorious  names,  than  all  others  united.  In  our  own 
country  especially,  the  discerning  eye  of  society  has 
sought  and  rejoiced  to  confer  on  the  enlightened  mem- 
bers of  this  noble  profession;  the  choicest  and  most  mul- 
tiplied evidences  of  public  gratitude  and  applause.  And 
faithful  history  will  record,  that  they  well  deserved  the 
nation's  confidence.  For  however  unworthy  particular 
individuals  may  be,  and  however  extensive  the  evil  in- 
fluence of  their  vices;  as  a  body,  these  men  have  been 
the  benefactors  of  the  human  race,  and  as  a  profession 
they  have  well  fulfilled  the  prime  duty  of  their  condition, 
namely,  to  redress  the  wrongs,  and  to  protect  the  rights 
of  all. 

The  laws  of  all  states  are  designed  to  be,  and  in  all 
free  and  civilized  states  really  are,  adequate  to  the  pro- 
tection of  every  citizen  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  his  rights; 
and  to  the  restraint  or  punishment  of  the  wicked,  for  all 
their  injuries  to  their  fellow  men.  Deeply  impressed  with 
the  force  of  these  truths,  we  have  from  the  beginning  of 
this  papal  controversy,  advised  all  who  have  been  injured 
by  the  audacious  incroachments  of  the  Romanists,  to  re- 
sort to  the  laws  for  redress.  And  so,  when  the  papists 
have  threatened  any  with  legal  prosecutions — our  advice 
has  uniformly  been,  that  protestants  should  keep  them- 
selves strictly  within  the  lines  of  truth — and  the  laws  ; 
and  then  court,  rather  than  shun  prosecution.     Not  that 


THE  ABDUCTED  ORPH  149 

we  would  contend;  at  all  v  en  for  our  rights;  far 

-  that  we  would  wantonl j  agj  ap- 

our  enen  *  fcnd 

this  con  ;   and  the  utm  nd  public 

that  can  be  given  to  I  -  and  injurious  proceedings 

of  the  ]  orthetnith.     P    testants gen- 

erally do  not  understand  the  nature  of  our  l<  em, 

in  regard  to  the  sill v  and  wicked  pretentions  of  the  Ro- 
manists; and  therefore,  it  is  good  to  show  them  how 
strong  our  c  Papists  are  still  more  ignorant  of 

the  extent  to  which  our  laws  go,  in  frowning  upon  their 
vices  and  follies;  and  it  is  exceedingly  well  to  have  them 
enlightened,  and  brought  into  a  salutary  terror  of  the 
civil  tribunals,  as  well  a*  of  public  sentiment.  In  short, 
the  whole  of  society  needs  to  be  taught,  that  crime  is 
not  winked  at  by  the  laws,  because  wicked  men  call  it 
religion;  that  truth  is  not  to  be  put  to  shame  in  our  courts, 
because  bigots  call  it  persecution;  and  that  nonsense  and 
wickedness,  are  not  entitled  to  public  reverence,  because 
the  fiftieth  part  of  the  people  choose  to  call  a  cake  of 
flour  God,  and  debauched  ignoramuses  his  vicars  upon 
earth. 

No  instance  has  occurred  where  either  the  Papists  or 
the  Christians  of  this  country,  have  brought  any  part  of 
the  momentous  subjects  in  contest  between  them,  into 
the  courts  of  the  nation,  in  which  our  cause  has  not  been 
decidedly  advanced  thereby.  We  suppose,  it  will  be  a 
long  day  before  the  case  of  Duparque  vs.  Rice,  will  be  for- 
gotten; or  the  papists  cease  to  remember  that  an  intelli- 
gent jury  valued  the  character  of  the  priests  and  nuns  of 
Kentucky  at  one  cent  !  This  result  is  always  to  be  ex- 
pected where  the  laws  have  free  course,  and  justice  is  im- 
partially administered;  because,  all  the  institutions  of  the 
country  are  based  in  reason,  and  assume  the  truth  of 
Christianity.  In  our  courts  in  this  city — for  example, 
when  the  representatives  of  deceased  papists — as  has 
often  been  the  case — put  into  their  accounts,  monies  paid 
to  the  priests  for  prayers  and  masses  for  the  dead: — what 
do  our  courts  know  about  purgatory?  Of  course  nothing: 
— So  also,  when  Christians  are  insulted  or  beaten,  be- 
cause of  want  of  what  papists  choose  to  consider,  suita- 
13* 


150  CASE  OF  ELIZA  BURNS; 

ble  reverence,  to  their  superstitious  rites;  what  do  the 
courts  know  about  transuhstantiation  ?  Absolutely  no- 
thing.---Men  may  be  ridiculous  if  they  please;  but  ob- 
serve, they  are  not  at  liberty  to  bind  others,  either  by 
force  or  intimidation,  to  be  silent  as  to  their  follies---nor 
to  embrace  them— nor  even  to  appear  to  do  so.  The 
papists  need  to  learn  this  lesson. 

It  was  precisely    in  view  of  these    principles,  that  we 
advised  the   friends  of   Eliza   Burns   to    •  the 

courts  for  the  recovery  of  the  abducted  child.  To  con- 
sider Mr.  bishop  Eccleston  and  all  his  abettors,  male  and 
female,  legal  and  private — simply  as  so  many  citizens  ; 
and  to  hold  them  all  responsible  for  the  performance  of 
an  act  wThich  no  gentleman  or  Christian  ever  should 
have  had  any  hand  in.  We  thank  God  for  inclining  their 
hearts  to  followT  that  counsel.  We  thank  him  for  raising 
up  friends  of  the  little  orphan,  in  this  land  of  strangers. 
We  thank  him  for  giving  our  land  faithful  public  servants 
— upright  judges,  and  able  and  honest  lawyers.  We 
thank  him  for  discomfiting  the  counsels  of  wicked  men 
— and  snatching  this  poor  child,  from  certain  ruin,  as  a 
brand  from  the  midst  of  the  burning.  We  thank  him 
for  having  given  us  courage  to  execute  our  duty  even  at 
the  risk  of  our  lives; — and  above  all,  we  thank  him  for 
the  complete  success  of  the  cause  of  the  righteous,  and 
the  confounding  of  the  machinations  of  his  subtle  enemies. 
The  child,  Eliza  Burns,  has  been  rescued,  by  due  process 
of  law,  from  the  hands  of  the  papists  who  abducted  her; 
restored  to  the  custody  of  her  proper  and  I  an  fid  friends; 
and  is  now  (Nov.  1831)  in  the  Orphan  School,  in  .Mul- 
berry  street,  to  which  the  dying  injunctions  of  her  gener- 
ous  protector,  Eliza  Gifford, — the  friend  of  her  deceas- 
ed parents  and  the  support  of  her  helpless  infancy,  had 
consigned  her. 

All  who  love  God  and  the  orphan  children  of  his  people 
— will  rejoice  at  this  issue.  It  is  an  event  in  the  progress 
of  the  papal  controversy,  that  is  worthy  of  deep  considera- 
tion. It  erects  another  barrier  against  the  flood  of  cruel 
superstition,  which  is  coining  in  upon  us.  Let  us  re- 
member, that  while  we  organize  public  sentiment  and 
enlighten  the   popular   mind,  the  courts  of  the  country 


THE  ABDUCTED   ORPHAN.  1M 

•are  open  to  us  for  protection   and  redress.      We  wUk 

injure  no  one;  therefore  it  is  no  terror  to  us,  to  say  the 
laws  will  restrain  us.  But  we  contend  with  men  ferocious 
in  spirit,  indifferent  to  the  means  by  which  they  e:: 
their  purposes — and  bursting  with  malignant  and  un- 
bridled passions.  It  is  therefore  of  immense  importance 
to  us  to  teach  such  people  that  the  laws  will  punish 
their  misdeeds,  and  redress  their  injuries  inflicted  on  the 
innocent.  It  is  vital  to  our  cause  that  these  people 
comprehend  at  once  that  we  will  hold  them  responsible 
both  to  exposure  and  punishment  in  the  courts  of  law; 
and  that  the  figment  of  non-resistence  has  no  place 
whatever  in  our  code.  AVe  know  out  rights,  and  mean 
to  enjoy  them. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  personal  risk  we  have  been 
obliged  to  encounter  in  this  affair.  We  will  be  more 
specific;  and  if  other  persons  find  occasion  for  offence  in 
what  we  are  about  to  say,  they  must  charge  their  own  in- 
solent folly  with  their  mortification. 

It  is  perfectly  known  to  all  the  world,  that  in  all  ages, 
the  papal  sect  has  reasoned  a  thousand  fold  more  with 
the  rack,  the  gibbet,  the  dungeon  and  the  stake;  than 
with  the  common  instruments  of  moral  evidence.  Their 
first  and  most  common  answer  to  all  the  remonstrances 
of  all  God's  people  in  all  ages;  has  been  the  very  same 
uttered  by  the  Jews  to  our  Lord.  Crucify  him,  crucify 
him,  is  their  standard  argument,  in  every  age,  and  in  an- 
swer to  every  antagonist.  When  they  have  had  power, 
they  have  openly  killed  people,  in  the  name  of  the  laws. 
When  they  have  not  had  the  entire  rule---they  have  killed 
them  by  mobs  and  organized  violence,  as  now,  and  for 
ages  past  in  Ireland;  where  for  six  hundred  years,  proba- 
bly not  one  week  has  passed  without  witnessing  the 
murder  of  some  Protestant,  by  a  band  of  Papists.  When 
they  have  feared  the  open  opposition  of  their  victims,  they 
have  assassinated,  sometimes  a  whole  people  in  a  day, 
as  during  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  and  the  massacre  of  Saint 
Bartholomeic;  at  others,  only  their  chief  enemies,  as  Henry 
III.,  and  Henry  IV.  of  France,  the  prince  of  Orange, 
the  prince  of  Conde  and  others  without  number. 

We  have  therefore  known  from  the  first  moment  we 


152  CASE  OF  ELIZA  BURNS) 

entered  into  this  controversy,  that  Ave  took  our  lives  in 
cur  bands  when  we  did  SOJ  and  it  has  always  been  in  our 
view  a  probable  thing,  that  we  should  be,  some  day,  put 
to  death  by  some  myrmidon  of  the  priests.  We  have 
received  numherle8S  proofs  of  their  malignity;  weekly 
threats  against  our  life;  and  all  kinds  of  insults-— slanders 
and  abuse,  have  been  incessantly  heaped  upon  us,  in 
public,  and  in  private.  Our  printers  have  been  threaten- 
ed; our  friends  insulted;  our  dependents  tampered  with; 
Our  private  correspondence  pried  into;  our  dwelling  beset 
in  the  night  season;  our  private  walks  watched;  and  every 
species  of  annoyance  set  on  foot,  to  brow-beat,  frighten, 
and  silence  us.  We  have  even  been  dogged  into  foreign 
lands;  and  during  our  abode  in  Europe  in  1836  and  '7 
rumours  of  our  death,  by  poison,  by  accident  and  by 
violence,  were  repeatedly  circulated  in  this  country;  and 
these  reports  wrere  always  found  to  oiiginate  wTith  some 
of  the  most  active  papists  in  this  city.  In  the  expecta- 
tion of  our  visiting  Rome,  a  likeness  was  surreptitiously 
obtained  in  this  city,  and  sent  thither!  For  what  use  let 
the  authors  of  the  act  explain.  And  in  the  holy  city  it- 
self, which  God's  providence  in  a  singular  manner  pre- 
vented us  from  reaching;  a  friend  has  told  us  that  minute 
enquiries  were  made  of  him,  apparently  in  mere  curiosity 
howevjer,  by  an  Irish  ecclesiastic  attached  to  the  Propa- 
ganda; enquiries  indicating  a  most  suspicious  acquaint- 
ance writh  our  history  and  movements, — and  under  the 
circumstances,  altogether  remarkable. 

We  have  now  to  state,  that  in  consequence  of  the  pub- 
lication of  our  former  article,  relative  to  the  case  of 
Eliza  Burns,  the  malignity  of  the  papists  has  risen  to  its 
heighth;  and  that  since  the  decision  of  the  case  in  favour 
of  the  friends  of  that  child,  open  and  repeated  threats 
against  our  lives,  have  been  made  by  responsible  persons 
in  the  streets  of  our  city.  We  will  at  present  give  the 
names  of  two  of  these  persons  only. 

A  young  man,  who  called  himself  Tiernan,  and  whose 
Christian  name  we  believe  to  be  Charles,  called  at  the 
printing  office  of  this  Magazine,  and  after  some  conver- 
sation wTith  our  printer, became  enraged  and  declared  the 
fact  to  be  within  his  knowledge,  that  the  life  of  one  or 


THE  ABDUCTED  ORPHAN.  153 

other  of  the  editors  of  the  Magazine  should  paj  the  forfeit 
of  their  conduct  in  the  case  of  Eliza  Burns.  I  pre- 
vent all  possibility  of  mistake,  the  senior  editor  assumes 
the  Responsibility  of  the  present  and  former  articles,  on 
this  subject.  But  he  utterly  repudiates  the  conduct  at- 
tributed to  him,  by  this  deluded  young  man.  He  declared 
his  cause  of  offence  to  be  the  improper  introduction  of 
his  mother's  name,  into  the  former  article,  and  our  inde- 
corous use  of  it.  Now  we  expressly  deny  having  said  one 
single  disrespectful  word  of  Mrs.  Tieman,  or  any  other 
private  female  whatever;  and  we  as  expressly  deny  having 
referred  to  any  private  conduct  of  any  person  whatever. 
We  have  abundant  evidence  of  the  private  corruption  of 
many  priests,  which  we  have  declined  using,  simply  be- 
cause it  chieily  concerned  their  personal  characters,  rather 
than  their  religious  system;  and  our  quarrel  is  onl)  with 
the  latter.  We  have  sedulously  spoken  of  famales,  even 
when  obliged  to  use  their  names  in  treating  of  their 
public  and  official  acts,  with  the  utmost  forbearance;  as 
our  whole  pages  testify. 

Mrs.  Tiernan,  was  one  of  the  official  actors  in  an 
event,  which  we  have  felt  obliged  to  lay  before  the  pub- 
lic; and  of  her  official  conduct  only  have  we  spoken,  and 
that  in  terms,  of  as  perfect  respect,  as  are  compatible 
with  decided  disapproval.  We  deeply  reverence  the. 
most  enthusiastic  feelings  which  a  son  can  cherish  for  a 
mother;  and  therefore  we  take  this  trouble  to  explain,  that 
young  Mr.  Tiernan  is  utterly  mistaken  in  point  of  fact. 
As  to  his  threats,  we  heed  not,  of  course,  any  such  things, 
come  from  what  quarter  they  may.  Mr.  Tiernan — had 
better  be  careful,  how  he  is  prompt  to  shed  blood;  and  read 
once  more  the  laws  of  God,  and  of  his  country  on  that 
subject,  before  he  attempt  that,  which  end  as  it  may,  will 
hardly  be  pleasant  in  the  remembrance  of  it. 

The  other  individual  to  whom  we  have  reference,  is  a 
certain  Gexl.  Williamson,  son  of  a  Protestant,  and 
brother  of  a  priest;  himself  also  an  amateur  member  of 
the  church  of  Rome>  and  a  mere  volunteer,  in  this  quar- 
rel. Mr.  Tiernan,  we  pity,  and  in  some  degree  sympa- 
thise with;  while  we  respect  the  pretence  of  his  anger. — 
Genl.  Williamson,  has  no  claims,  but  on  our  contempt 


154  CASE  OF  ELIZA  BURNS; 

and  defiance;  which  nothing,  but  our  Christian  princi- 
ples prevents  us  from  hurling  at  him. 

"He  would  Lynch  us." — "He  would  cut  ofTour  ears — 
but  for  the  fear  of*  soiling  himself!" — "He  would"  in 
his  own  refined  speech,  "hire  a  big  nigger  to  chas- 
tise us!" — 

Now  sir,  let  us  fairly  say  to  you — you  are  not  wise,  in 
this  matter.  First,  there  are  those  who  would  be  very 
glad,  at  the  least  leasable  opportunity,  to  hold  you  re- 
sponsible for  these  threats,  in  a  way,  which  we  take  it 
for  granted  would  be  very  unpleasant  to  you;  as  it  would 
assuredly  be  most  painful  to  us,  to  be  the  occasion  of 
damage  to  you.  You  have  excused  yourself  by  saying 
that  as  we  are  preachers,  you  cannot  challenge  us  ;  and 
therefore  justify  your  vulgarity,  on  that  pretence.  But 
remember  sir,  all  the  Protestants  on  earth,  do  not  preach; 
and  therefore  unless  you  are  very  eager  to  get  yourself 
into  trouble,  we  beg  you  to  guard  your  tongue  a  little. 
But  in  the  second  place,  we  entreat  you  to  be  careful, 
least  you  talk  yourself  into  so  great  a  rage,  that  you 
should  finally  lose  all  prudence;  or  finally  persuade  your- 
self that  you  can,  not  only  abuse,  but  chastise  us  with 
personal  security.  Nowr  if  you  should  accomplish  this 
feat,  it  would  add  little  to  your  military  glory;  and  if  per- 
chance you  failed  in  it,  it  would  be  a  sad  mortification  to 
you.  And  we  suggest  to  you  not  to  forget,  that  the 
■writer  of  this  article  w^as  bred  a  man  of  the  world,  and 
is  therefore  not  entirely  ignorant  of  your  kind;  that  altho' 
he  is  a  preacher \  he  claims  also  to  be  both  a  gentleman 
and  a  Kentuckian;  and  that  being  a  thorough  Protestant, 
he  has  small  confidence  in  any  imposition  of  hands.  But 
above  all,  sir,  it  were  wise  for  you  to  recollect  before  you 
commence  the  shedding  of  social  blood,  that  in  this  city, 
your  sect  numbers  but  one  in  Jive,  and  in  this  nation  not 
one  in  Jiffy!!  Mark,  sir, — this  prophecy-— we  make  it 
deliberately:  The  first  drop  of  Protestant  blood  shed  in 
this  controversy,  will  rouse  a  spirit  in  this  broad  repub- 
lic which  neither  of  us  will  live  to  see  allayed;  and  which 
in  its  results  must  sweep  the  very  name  of  papists  from 
the  land.  Surely  no  madness  is  so  great,  as  for  one 
man  to  expect  tb  destroy  fifty,  in  open  combat !     Better, 


THE  ABDUCTED  ORPHAN.  155 

sir,  keep  cool— -digest  your  wrath,— -leam  manners,  and 
let  alone  affairs  with  which  you  arc  no  way  called  to  med- 
dle; and  people  whose  serious  business  as  well  as  inclina- 
tion and  duty,  lead  them  entirely  out  of  your  track. 

A  word  in  the  ear  of  Mr.  Eccleston,— so  called 
arch-bishop  of  Baltimore.  Does  your  eminence  imagine, 
we  or  our  friends  to  be  so  silly,  as  not  see  the  hand  of 
Joab,  in  this  business  ?  Power  has  its  troubles  as  well 
as  its  sweets.  Sir,  you  must  keep  all  bullies— great  and 
small,  off  our  backs.  We  turn  not  aside,  for  small  or 
great;  it  is  the  papal  superstition  we  war  against,  not  pa- 
pal ladies,  gentlemen,  nor  generals.  We  hold  the  priests 
as  a  body,  and  you  as  their  head,  responsible  at  the  bar 
of  public  opinion,— -and  at  every  other  bar  to  which  we 
shall  see  it  to  be  our  duty  to  carry  the  citation—  not  only 
for  the  fatal  system  taught  by  them;  but  for  the  personal 
injuries  inflicted  by  consequence  of  their  principles,  and 
in  virtue  of  their  sanction— if  not  in  obedience  to  their 
orders.  Your  subject,  priest  Gildea,  once  expressed  sur- 
prise, that  the  virgin  Mary  had  not  killed  us.  Now  two 
devotees  seek  our  blood.  In  all  these,  and  every  other 
case— our  sole  offence  has  been,  the  exposure  of  the  ab- 
surd and  pernicious  dogmas,— and  vicious  conduct  of 
the  priests.  Gentlemen,  if  you  love  your  own  lives,  you 
will  show  wisdom  in  respecting  ours.  If  you  would 
understand  your  true  policy,— silence  your  street  brawl- 
ers; for  their  threats  are  lost  on  us— and  bring  upon  your 
cause  public  abhorrence. 


POSTSCRIPT    TO    THE    CASE    OF    ELIZA    BURNS. 

We  are  obliged  by  a  sense  of  justice  to  an  individual 
who  says  we  have  circulated  a  false  report  regarding  him, 
and  possibly  we  may  have  done  unintentional  wrong;  to 
return  again,  to  this  case— so  full  of  hope  to  every  Pro- 
testant heart,  and  so  fatal  to  the  character  and  designs 
of  Papists.  Let  the  two  following  papers  speak  for 
themselves. 

To  the  Conductors  of  the  ) 

Baltimore  Literary  and  Religious  Magazine:     ) 

T  am  informed  that  my  name  is  used  in  an  article  in  your  Magazine  of 
this  month,  and  that  it  is  therein  asserted  that  I  called  upon  the  editor,  in 


156  CASE  OF  ELIZA  BURNS; 

reference  to  a  piece  which  appeared  in  one  of  your  previous  numbers. — 
The  assertion  is  gratuitous  and  not  founded  on  fact. — I  did  not  at  any 
time  deem  the  piece  referred  to,  of  sufficient  importance  to  require  any 
notice  or  attention, 

Your.-*,  &c. 

Charles  Tiernan. 
Lexington  st.,  November  7th,  1837. 

A  young  man  called  at  my  office  during  the  month  of  October  (to  the 
best  of  my  recollection)  and  asked  me  if  there  was  there  the  last  two 
numbers  of  the  Literary  and  Religious  Magazine,  when  I  replied  in  the 
affirmative,  and  at  his  request  I  presented  them  to  him.  lie  sat  down 
complacently  and  commenced  reading,  occasionally  making  observations, 
all  of  which  I  do  not  recollect  as  I  was  employed — However,  I  recollect 
distinctly  of  his  stating  that  lie  had  heard  of  a  design,  or  recommenda- 
tion of  some  persons  to  Lynch  the  editors.  On  my  replying  that  such 
effects  always  argued  a  bad  cause,  he  justified  it,  and  said  he  thought  it 
right.  He  said  the  Literary  and  Religious  Magazine  was  of  a  similar 
character  with  the  Castigator,  and  some  other  infamous  papers.  To 
which  I  replied  that  that  was  not  so — as  the  editors  were  both  gentlemen 
of  respectability  in  society,  and  openly  inserted  their  names  in  front  of 
the  Magazine.  He  became  angered  and  stated  that  he  "heard  a  person 
that  morning  swear  by  the  eternal  G-d  that  he  would  put  a  ball  in  him," 
(Mr.  Breckinridge)  I  replied  that  I  was  only  the  printer  of  the  paper, 
but  as  he  heard  such  an  assertion  made,  J  required  his  name.  He  stated 
it  was  Tiernan,  and  that  the  Mrs.  Tiernan  whose  name  was  mentioned  in 
one  of  the  Magazines,  associated  with  the  relation  given  of  the  abduc- 
tion of  Eliza  Burns,  was  his  mother,  and  "by  the  God  that  made  me 
(him)  one  of  those  (pointing  to  the  names  of  Messrs.  Breckinridge  and 
Cross  on  the  cover)  should  answer  for  using  it  (Mrs,  T's  name) 
there," — walking  out  as  he  was  speaking, — I  inferred  from  his  manner, 
that  he  was  the  individual  who  would  put  the  ball  in  Mr.  Breckinridge. — 
Mr.  Tiernan  did  not  say  whether  his  Christian  name  was  Charles,  nor 
give  any  name — nor  do  I  know  his  name.  I  deemed  it  my  duty,  (under 
those  circumstances)  to  tell  Mr.  B.  and  as  Mr.  Charles  Tiernan  in  a  note 
to  the  editors  says  that  the  assertion  that  "I  (he)  called  on  the  editors 
relative  to  a  piece  which  appeared,  is  gratuitous,  and  not  founded  on 
fact,"  I  am  called  upon  to  make  this  statement. — The  inference  is 
plain,  that  it  was  a  brother  if  not  Mr.  Charles  Tiernan.  I  would  know 
him  again  if  I  saw  him. 

There  were  two  other  persons  present. 

November  1837.  R.  J.  Matchett. 

The  reader  will  see  at  once  from  Mr.  Matchett's  state- 
ment, that  all  we  have  formerly  said,  and  more,  was  true 
to  the  letter.  We  did  no  more  than  express  our  belief,  as 
to  the  Christian  name  of  the  person,  who  called  himself 
Tiernan.  We  will  now  say,  that  we  arrived  at  that  be- 
lief, after  considerable  enquiry,  and  as  we  then  supposed 
satisfactory  information.  We  insert  the  foregoing  note 
of  Mr,  Charles  Tiernan  with  great  pleasure;  and  sincere- 


THE  ABDUCTED  ORPHAN.  157 

ly  regret  having  been  led  into  any  mistake — if  indeed 
that  has  been  the  ruse. 

We  are  not  more  assured  now,  that  this  note  is  from 
the  veritable  author,  than  we  were  formerly  that  we  named 
the  person  rightly;  for  then  we  had  responsible  persons 
as  our  informants,  and  now  we  have  only  a  note  left  at 
our  office,  by  we  know  not  whom.  Again,  it  will  be  re- 
membered, that  we  never  said  Mr.  Tiernan  had  "called 
upon  the  editor;"  it  will  also  be  observed,  that  this  is  the 
specific  matter  denied  in  the  note.  There  may  be  a  mere 
play  on  words  here.  Or  the  note  may  not  be  from  him 
whose  name  is  to  it.  Or  the  first  individual  may  have 
given  a  false  name  to  Mr.  Matchett. 

The  probability  however  seems  to  be,  that  the  present 
note  is  from  Mr.  Charles  Tiernan;  that  we  were  misin- 
formed in  calling  the  person  who  honoured  us  with  the 
former  notice,  by  his  given  name;  and  that  it  was  an- 
other member  of  the  family  and  not  himself,  who  made 
the  threats  in  question.  Supposing  the  facts  to  be  thus 
—we  repeat,  that  we  publish  this  note  wTith  much  pleasure, 
and  sincerely  express  our  regret  at  the  supposed  and  un- 
intentional mistake;  if  as  we  have  already  said,  any  has 
occurred. 

It  will  be  observed  however,  that  Mr.  Charles  Tier- 
nan's  reason  for  not  having  "called  upon  the  editor"  is 
frankly  given;  namely,  that  he  "did  not  at  any  time  deem 
the  piece  referred  to,  of  sufficient  importance  to  require 
any  notice  or  attention."  Therefore  of  course,  whenever 
we  shall  be  able  to  write  an  article  which  he  shall  think 
worthy  of  notice,  we  may  expect  a  call,  perhaps  a  bullet, 
or  possibly  a  Lynching,  at  the  hands  of  Mr.  Charles 
Tiernan.  And  in  the  meantime,  the  other  Mr.  Tiernan 
who  did  deem  the  piece  already  published,  worthy  of  his 
"notice  and  attention;"  may  at  his  leisure,  still  favor  us 
with  a  call,  a  ball,  or  a  Lynching;  even  if  General 
Williamson,  and  his  "big  nigger"  should  let  us  escape. 

Still  we  are  glad  to  publish  this  note.  For  it  puts  to 
rest  the  hope  over  wThich  the  priests  have  chuckled,  of 
embroiling  us  with  laymen;  and  about  temporal  and  per- 
sonal affairs.  You  have  outwitted  yourselves  gentlemen; 
and  God  has  once  more,  for  the  hundredth  time",  deliver- 
14 


158  CASE  OF  ELIZA  BURNS,  &.C. 

ed  us  out  of  your  hands.— Whatever  may  befall  us  here* 
after,  let  it  be  forever  remembered,  that  the  preterm  t 
our  having  offended  a  son  by  speaking  improperly- of  his 
mother—  is  a  fabrication  and  contrivance  of  the  priests- 
nailed  down  and  finished.  The  son  comes  voluntarily 
forward  and  says  he  took  no  offence — deemed  our  article 
not  requiring  any  notice.  Remember  that  gentlemen. 
See  how  a  plain  and  honest  course  has  confounded  you. 
See  how  God  has  turned  your  machinations  to  your  own 
exposure. 

Mrs.  Tiernan,  is  known  to  this  whole  community,  as 
a  most  decided  Catholic.  Very  well;  she  has  a  right  to 
be  so.  But  she  is  also  known  as  one  of  their  most  active 
official  members,  in  various  societies,  institutions,  schools, 
&c.  &c.  Her  private  conduct,  rights  and  duties,  are 
matters  with  wThich  we  have  never  meddled,  and  never 
will.  Her  official  and  public  acts,  we  suppose  are  on  the 
same  footing  as  those  of  all  other  females,  of  equal  con- 
dition in  life;  and  therefore  we  cannot  be  deterred  from 
taking  such  notice  of  them,  as  public  necessity  may  re- 
quire. Being  a  female,  she  shall  never  receive  from  us, 
any  treatment  of  which  any  lady  could  justly  complain. 
But  if  she  performs  official  and  public  acts — she  must  ex- 
pect them  to  be  respectfully  canvassed,  and  where  need- 
ful decidedly  condemned;  as  for  example,  in  the  official 
connivance  at  the  abduction  of  an  orphan  Protestant  child. 

After  all, we  have  feared  there  may  be  foul  play  in  the  pre- 
sent denial;  that  the  individual  who  called  at  our  office  was 
Mr.  Charles  Tiernan;  and  that  he  has  sent  us  this  note, 
under  the  pressure  of  public  sentiment  roused  against 
him  by  his  former  conduct.  We  express  this  suspicion 
with  pain:  but  we  fear  on  sufficient  authority.  We  do 
not  know,  even  by  eye-sight  any  Tiernan  on  earth;  and 
are  therefore  liable  to  be  many  ways  imposed  on  in  the 
whole  affair.  But  we  are  strongly  assured  by  persons 
who  ought  to  know,  that  the  Mr.  Tiernan  who  did  threat- 
en our  life,  is  the  one  who  has  been  of  late  years  residing 
much  out  of  this  city,  perhaps  in  New  Orleans;  and  that 
he  is  really  named  Charles.  In  that  case  what  are  we 
to  think  of  his  present  conduct? 

One  thing  at  least  rejoices  our  hearts:  the  orphan 
child  abducted  and  secreted,  is  redeemed  from   destruc- 


BISHOPS   FULT  ,    BISHOPS    EMPTY. 

tion.      Thanks  be  to  God  Hitting  us  to  have  had 

v  in  this  blessed  ••• 

ir  memo  sed  by  the  enemies  of  God, 

the  grateful  fc  phan  will  be  like  - 

upon  our  tomb.  When  the  wicked  revile  our  name,  the 
oppressed  and  the  forsaken  will  point  to  our  resting  place 
and  bless  the  God  of  truth,  who  inclined  and  enabled  us 
to  do  them  good — at  so  great  risk,  and  amid  such  lei 
ous  opposition.  And  in  the  hour  of  death  and  the  day 
of  judgment, — a  faithful  Saviour  will  not  forget  that  we 
have  not  held  our  life  dear,  that  we  might  rescue  one  of 
his  little  one<.  W<  have  neyer*een  the  face  of  this  poor 
child;  but  we  humbly  beseech  the  Lord  that  we  may  meet 
her  in  heaven. 


NUMBER    XVII. 

BISHOPS    FULL,    0*1*10,    BISHOPS  EMPTY. 

We  are  informed  by  Tacitus  that  it  was  a  custom  of 
the  ancient  Germans,  to  decide  all  important  questions 
twice;  once  namely,  when  sober,  and  once  afterwards 
when  drunk.  By  this  means,  they  supposed  they  w- 
sure  to  sret  at  the  true  solution  of  every  difficult  subject; 
for  if  both  the  drunk  and  sober  decision  was  the  same,  it 
might  be  safely  followed:  if  they  were  different — either 
might  be  followed;  if  opposite,  a  medium  might  be  ob- 
served. 

The  conduct  of  the  dignitaries  of  the  papal  church  in 
this  country,  very  often  reminds  us  of  this  habit  of  our 
ancestors;  and  we  know  not  that  a  more  notable  instance 
of  it  has  lately  occurred,  than  is  furnished  by,  f  John. 
Bishop  oY..  commonly  called  Mr.  England,  as  his  sayings 
and  doings  are  reported  in  the  Baltimore  American— 
from  the  Norfolk  Beacon-— on  the  occasion  of  a  fourth 
of  July  (1S37)  dinner  at  Charleston.  South  Carolina. 


160  BISHOPS  FULL,  Versus,  BISHOPS   EMPTY. 

We  do  not  by  any  means  insinuate,  that  this  prelate 
—any  more  than  the  rest  of  his  brethren,— -is  more  than 
a  tolerable  judge  of  good  drink;  far  from  it.  For  bishop 
England's  remarkably  robust,  ruddy,  and  plethoric  habit, 
is  proof  enough  of  the  fidelity  with  which  he  observes 
the  generous  fasts  of  a  church,  whose  lent  is  kept  on  the 
richest  productions  of  nature;  and  most  clearly  estab- 
lishes the  excellence  of  her  religious  observances  as 
dietetic  rules.  Heartily  do  we  wish  him  long  life-  — many 
refreshing  lents— and  many  feasts  on  returning  anniver- 
saries of  our  national  independence. 

Considering  that  so  large  a  part  of  the  religion  of  the 
papal  church  consists  in  "meats  and  drinks"-— it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at,  that  the  dignitaries  of  that  sect,  should 
be  so  prompt  to  eat  and  to  drink,  to  the  honour  and  glory 
of  all  unusual  subjects.  We  observe  that  Mr.  Ecclestcn 
has  been  down  to  Georgetown,  to  feast  to  the  success  of 
the  Jesuit  college  there,  on  the  occasion  of  its  late  anni- 
versary;— as  well  as  that  of  the  Nuns'  school  for  girls,  in 
the  same  place.  Mr.  Eccleston  is  doubtless  aware  that 
his  immediate  predecessor  in  the  See  of  Baltimore,  was  a 
superb  host  and  most  admirable  feaster;  and  it  were  to  be 
regretted  that  the  fame  of  our  good  city,  or  of  the  peo- 
ple, should  suffer  in  a  matter  so  important. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  that  whether  feasting  or  fasting, 
these  gentlemen  never  for  a  moment  lose  sight  oi'  the 
great  object  for  which  they  live,  namely,  the  advance- 
ment of  the  interests  of  the  papacy.  At  the  feast  at 
Georgetown,  Mr.  Eccleston  attended  as  Jlrch-bishop;  and 
in  his  robes  officially  conferred  on  the  young  gentlemen 
and  ladies  of  the  two  institutions  there,  the  honours  and 
rewards  wTon  in  their  previous  course  of  study.  Observe 
this,  reader:  whatever  Papists  and  their  Protestant  friends 
may  say  to  the  contrary,  every  institution  of  learning  in 
which  priests  and  nuns  teach,  is  a  place  meant  and  used 
for  the  grand,  if  not  the  sole  purpose,  of  proselyting:  and 
is  as  real  a  part  of  the  papal  sect  as  one  of  their  churches 
is;  and  all  the  degrees  and  honours  there  conferred,  are 
papal,  far  more  than  they  an4  literary.  When  these  peo- 
ple are  erecting  their  schools  and  obtaining  patron, 
from  credulous   Protestants,  by  false   statements   about 


BISHOPS  FULL,  VerSUS*    BISHOPS   EMPTY.  161 


their  spirit,  intent  and  compass,  they  remind  us  of  the 
Germans  when  sober;    hut  when    W6  find  all  the    officers 

of  the  college  at  Georgetown,  and  divers  other  pri 

—  with  their  archbishop — in  his  robes  at  their  head,  open- 
ly feasting  and  distributing  rewards,  en  papist,  we  have 
then  a  picture  of  the  other  and  honester,  if  not  so  deco- 
rous consultation. 

We  learn  from  a  description  of  the  college  exercises 
and  the  priests3  least  at  Georgetown — that  a  number  of 
Protestant  gentlemen  of  some  distinction  attended  both: 
and  the  friendly  hand  which  prepared  this  account  for 
the  National  Intelligencer — appears  to  have  exerted  him- 
self especially  to  do  justice  to  the  excellent  manner  in 
which  these  guests  as  well  as  the  regular  body,  perform- 
ed their  parts  in  the  eating  and  drinking.  Mr.  Eccles- 
ton  made  a  speech  over  his  wine;  Mr.  Mulledy  the  pre- 
sident of  the  college,  another;  Mr.  George  Washing- 
ton Parke  Custis,  delivered  a  very  good  one — rather 
long;  Mr.  Seaton  of  the  Intelligencer,  did  himself  jus- 
tice in  his  address:  and  Major  General  McComb — with  a 
point  and  brevity  peculiarly  military,  and  that  dignity  and 
pathos  so  eminently  characteristic  of  a  great  dramatist, 
honoured  the  company  both  with  a  speech  and  toast. — 
All  the  wrhile  the  marine  band,  belonging  to  the  United 
States  and  stationed  at  the  navy  yard  in  Washington — 
regaled  the  company  with  excellent  music:  and  the  young 
gentlemen  who  had  figured  on  the  stage  before  dinner, 
not  only  partook  of  the  good  cheer,  but  did  a  portion  of 
the  regular  toasting,  speaking  and  drinking. 

It  is  sufficiently  humiliating  to  see  any  of  the  institu- 
tions of  learning  in  the  country,  prostituted  to  the  super- 
stitious and  selfish  ends,  of  the  most  ignorant  and  cor- 
rupt body  of  ecclesiastics  that  can  be  found  in  the  na- 
tion. It  is  shameful  enough  to  behold  these  men,  seiz- 
ing occasions  of  such  solemn  and  overpowering  interest 
to  the  young  persons  under  their  charge,  to  set  before 
them  examples  of  "wine  bibbing,"  in  circumstances  of 
great  public  notoriety,  if  not  indecency.  It  is  woful 
enough  to  behold  the  priests  of  a  system,  calling  itself 
religious,  with  their  archbishop  at  their  head,  feasting, 
drinking,  toasting  and  spouting,  with  military  music,  on 
14* 


162  BISHOPS  FULL,  Versus,  BISHOPS   EMPTY. 

public  occasions;  and  without  the  least  show  of  compunc- 
tion, getting  up  scenes  which  aic  utterly  unbecoming  the 
occasion,  and  the  professed  character  ot  all  the  parties. 
It  is  truly  humiliating  to  see  that  such  scenes  and  per- 
sons, are  publicly  praised  in  our  leading  political  news- 
papers; even  those  which  pretend  to  be,  and  perhaps 
are  on  most  subjects,  regardful  of  public  morals  and  pro- 
priety.    Dai  there  is  to  be  found  in  these  public  revels, 

Something   still  more    calculated    to    alarm    and    as1 
every  true  friend  of  the  country,  and  of  truth  and  liberty. 

General  McComb  after  being  toasted — made  a  sp< 
and  drank,  u  The  health  of  the  Pope,  and  prosperity  to 
the  Catholic  religion" 

Mr.  Seaton,  after  having  been  toasted,  and  after  list- 
ening to  a  high  panegyric  on  his  journal — made  a  speech 
in  reply — in  which,  he  bestowed  unmeasured  praises  on 
the  papal  institutions  at  Georgetown — and  wound  up  by 
toasting  the  Jesuits!!  An  order — devoted  (said  he,  in 
substance)  for  three  centuries  to  religion  and  learning! 

Now  what  are  wre  to  expect  next? — The  highest  judi- 
cial officer  of  the  national  government  is  a  papist.  The 
General  in  chief  of  our  armies,  comes  out  on  a  public 
occasion — over  his  wine  cups,  as  the  guest  of  revelling 
priests,  and  drinks  prosperity  to  the  Catholic  reli 
whose  success,  necessarily  involves  the  ruin  of  the 
try  and  the  overthrow  of  her  institutions  and  liberties. — 
The  leading  opposition  journalist  at  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, praises  the  Jesuits  in  a  speech ;  and  then  insults 
the  nation,  by  proposing  as  a  sentiment,  a  society  which 
has  been  polluted  by  every  crime,  convicted  of  every  en- 
ormity—and whose  very  name,  the  synonyma  of  all. that 
is  atrocious,  he  did  not  dare  to  utter  !  At  the  same  mo- 
ment, the  head  of  this  superstition  is  present,  officially  to 
receive  these  adhesions;  and  the  whole  conspiracy  is 
steeped  in  alcohol  and  baptised  in  strong  drink! 

These  revelations  over  their  wine-cups,  are  as  import- 
ant as  they  are  fearful;  and  the  whole  case  goes  to  show, 
that  not  only  the  public  press  is  to  a  shameful  and  dan- 
gerous extent,  under  the  influence  of  the  papists  of  this 
country;  but  that  the  men  who  are  in  high  places,  and 
those  who  are  seeking  to  reach  them,  are  under  the 


BISHOPS  FULL,  VeftUSj   BISHOPS   L\MFTY\  163 

grasping  control,  to  a  degree— -which  they  themselves 
do  not  confess,  except  in  the  fulsomness  of  subservient 
Battery,  or  in  the  honest  garulity  of  a  half-done  revel.  Jt 
is  manifest  besides,  thai  the  papists  not  only  clearly  un- 

derstand  the  secret  of  their  influence— but  thai  they  be- 
gin to  make  open  show  of  that  influence  itself;  which 
they  have  won  at  first,  by  the  perfect  concert  with  which 
they  have  all  acted  together,  on  all  occasions— and  with 
reference  to  every  subject;  and  now  they  still  further  ma- 
ture and  extend  it,  by  showing  in  these  public  forms  that 
they  really  posses  it. 

There  is  no  alternative  but  for  Protestants  to  resist  the 
pressing  dangers  which  threaten  us,  by  a  similar  concert 
amongst  ourselves,  and  an  enlightened  devotion  to  our 
own  principles.  If  Mr.  Seaton  does  really  wish  to  see 
the  Jesuits  restored  to  all  their  ancient  powers,  and  to 
behold  the  earth  cursed  again  by  their  crimes  and  cruel- 
ties; it  is  good  that  the  readers  of  the  Intelligencer  have 
found  it  out.  If  General  McComb,  really  desires  to  see 
the  papal  superstition  extend  over  the  land  and  blight  all 
that  is  fair  and  excellent  in  it;  it  is  fortunate  for  that  de- 
ceived country,  that  he  has  revealed  his  true  and  secret 
inclinations.  Let  true  Protestants  note  these  declara- 
tions, as  signs  of  the  evil  days  wThich  are  coming  upon 
the  land.  Let  them  begin  in  time  to  resist  an  influence 
so  seductive,  so  fatal,  and  already  so  extended.  We  have 
no  fears  for  the  final  result;  for  this  terrible  superstition 
is  destined  to  absolute  and  no  distant  destruction.  But 
we  mourn  over  the  growth  of  error;  we  bewrail  the  defec- 
tion of  the  weakest  of  our  brethren;  we  prefer  that  evil 
should  be  resisted  in  the  beginning,  and  so  put  down  at 
once  and  without  commotion  or  bloodshed:  we  pray  to 
God,  and  we  labour  earnestly,  that  the  Protestants  may 
see  in  time  where  things  are  tending;  and  not  permit  them 
to  run  on,  till  in  mere  self-defence  they  will  be  obliged  to 
take  arms  in  their  hands  and  put  down  by  force,  what 
can  now  be  easily  extirpated  by  moral  means.  Between 
the  use  of  one  or  other  of  these  means,  and  the  final  ex- 
tinction of  liberty  and  protestantism  in  this  country,  there 
is  no  choice.  The  papal  sect,  first  crawls  at  the  feet, 
•and  licks  the  dust,  if  need  require;  it  then  stands  up, 


164  BISHOPS   FULL,  VerSUS,   BISHOPS   EMPTY. 

and  carefully  steals  abroad  under  the  cover  of  twi-light ; 
alter  that  it  revels  in  open  day — and  celebrates  its  de- 
bauches on  the  house  tops;  then  it  tramples  into  the  dust 
the  bleeding  members  of  its  first  credulous  friends — and 
raves  in  madness  over  the  moral  desert  it  has  created; 
then  human  nature  reacts  under  insupportable  sufferings, 
and  the  victim  reeks  his  vengeance  on  his  pitiless  tyrants; 
then  for  a  brief  space  liberty  and  reason  and  truth  reign; 
and  then  the  fearful  round  commences  again*  Thus 
has  it  been  for  long  ages.  Thus  has  the  career  of  this 
bloody  system  heretofore  progressed  amongst  us,  up  to 
its  present  posture;  and  at  this  moment,  it  is  as  easy  to 
indicate  its  position,  and  its  next  act,  as  to  read  on  the 
dial  the  sun's  degree. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  other  case  of  a  full  against  an 
empty  bishop — furnished  by  Mr.  jJohn,  Bishop.  The 
newspapers  of  our  city,  are  veiy  shy  of  saying  any  thing 
in  favour  of  Protestants,  and  not  less  prompt  to  say  all 
that  can  be  culled  in  favor  of  Papists.  For  ten  years 
past,  every  Protestant  in  Baltimore  has  known  this;  and 
yet  there  is  no  daily  paper  here,  that  is  really  Protestant.* 
The  American  was  right  in  publishing  this  toast,  and  the 
speech  of  Mr.  England,  at  the  Charleston  dinner;  and 
we  are  glad  of  it.  But  why  did  it  refuse  to  publish  when 
repeatedly  solicited  by  old  subscribers,  and  by  as  respecta- 
ble men  as  any  in  the  city,  the  letter  to  Dr.  Wardlaw, 
written  from  Paris  a  year  ago,  by  the  author  of  these 
pages?  A  letter  as  purely  and  thoroughly  national,  as 
could  be  prompted  by   a  heart,  out-and-out,  American. 


*This  was  published  three  years  before  General  Duff  Green,  opened 
the  columns  of  his  paper  (The  Pilot,)  in  the  autumn  of  1840,  to  the 
political  evils  of  papism;  on  the  occasion  of  Bishop  England's  attempt 
to  control  the  papal  vote  of  the  U.  S.  in  the  late  presidential  election. 
That  movement  and  its  consequences,  will  produce  effects, — unless  we 
greatly  err, — of  incalculable  importance.  The  Papists  were  deceived 
in  two  respects.  1.  As  to  the  extent  of  their  own  strength;  2.  As  to  the 
statejof  public  sentiment.  After  long  reflection  and  much  hesitation, they  de- 
termined to  <^o  lor  the  Administration  then  in  power;  and  did  so  in  solid 
column.  The  effect  of  this  move  on  the  entire  Whig  party,  and  on  the 
Protectant  portion  of  the  Democratic,  must  be  equally  disastrous  to 
Papism.  The  Lord  be  praised  alike  for  the  folly,  and  the  overthrow  of 
t,  John,  Bishop,  and  the  J  V.  Provincial  council,  of  Papal  prelates,  by 
whose  direction  he  acted,  and  whose  plans  he  executed. 


BISHOPS  FULL,  VCrsi'S,   BISHOPS   EMPTY.  165 

If  they  had  published  it,  they  would  perhaps  have  lost 
all  their  Papal  subscribers  and  patrons,  while  by  refusing 
to  publish  it,  they  probably  gained  Papal,  and  lost  no 
Protestant  patronage.  Here  lies  the  radical  difference 
between  the  policy  of  these  parties;  and  as  long  as  things 
stand  so,  every  man  that  prefers  his  interest  to  his  duty 
and  his  principles,  wdl  either  openly  oppose  Protestant- 
ism— or  stand  neutral  in  the  struggle. 

"At  one  of  the  celebrations  of  the  fourth  of  July  in 
the  city  of  Charleston,"  some  one  gave  as  a  toast  "the 
health  of  bishop  England" — with  the  usual  addition  of 
blarney — which  as  usual  wTas,  vox  et  prceteria  nihil.  It 
is  not  stated  at  what  celebration  this  occurred  ;  and  for 
aught  that  appears,  it  may  have  been  one  got  up  by  the 
Papists,  or  even  the  priests  of  that  city.  It  cannot  be 
denied  however  that  not  only  Charleston,  but  all  South 
Carolina  is  much  indebted  to  Mr.  England.  In  that 
whole  state,  we  have  his  own  word  for  saying,  there  are 
only  about  Jive  thousand  Papists,  of  whom  nearly  half  are 
black;  and  there  are  not  less  than  a  dozen  priests,  besides 
nuns — to  give  spiritual  instruction  to  this  handful  of  the 
faithful.  It  is  clear  therefore,  that  the  bishop  and  his 
helpers,  have  directed  their  principal  efforts  to  the  work 
of  proselyting  the  poor  deluded  Protestants  of  his  diocese; 
and  for  this  surely  they  ought  to  be  abundantly  grateful. 
And  for  our  part,  we  are  not  able  to  see  that  Mr.  England 
is  not  just  as  much  bound  to  eat  and  drink  to  the  con- 
version of  heretics  in  Carolina,  and  to  give  toasts  and 
make  speeches  in  aid  of  his  mission;  as  Mr.  Eccleston*is 
to  undertake  the  same  severe  and  painful  labours  at 
Georgetown.  Nor  do  we  perceive  anymore  reason  wThy 
the  one  rather  than  the  other,  should  be  restricted  of  his 
liberty  to  say  one  thing  at  a  feast  when  full,  and  quite 
another  thing,  in  conclave  when  empty.  In  our  attempt 
therefore,  to  elucidate  the  sentiments  of  bishop  England's 
Charleston  dinner  speech,  by  his  previous  official  oaths; 
we  assure  him  wTe  do  not  consider  his  conduct  at  all  un- 
canonical — or  even  peculiar  in  his  sect;  but  on  the  con- 
trary, we  fully  admit,  that  a  papal  bishop  is  no  more 
bound  to  exhibit  his  true  principles  in  his  public  speeches 
—than  a  sober  German  was  bound  by  his  drunken  judg- 


166  bishops  full,  versus,  BISHOPS  empty. 

ments.  The  ancients  had  a  God  that  was  blessed  with 
two  faces;  he  was  a  sort  of  God  of  time,  and  stood  at 
the  point  where  their  years  began  and  ended,  with  one 
face  looking  back  into  the  past,  and  another  gazing  be- 
fore him  into  futurity.  On  one  countenance4,  age  was  de- 
picted with  gravity,  solemnity,  and  thoughtfulness — as 
if  the  closing  year  had  not  been  lost  in  its  many  lessons 
of  wisdom;  on  the  other,  was  painted  youth  full  of 
watchfulness,  alacrity,  and  decision, — showing  how  the 
future  must  be  encountered.  As  it  regards  the  duplicity 
of  this  figure,  we  have  mused  on  it  as  a  most  striking 
emblem  of  Rome:  an  emblem  on  whose  brows  the  faithful 
chronicler  should  write, — on  the  one,  Janus;  and  turning 
the  head  about  on  the  other  also,  Janus;  with  ineffaceable 
characters. 

But  let  us  do  the  bishop  full  justice,  and  hear  him  state 
his  own  sentiments  and  principles.  We  give  in  full, 
both  the  speech  and  the  toast  which  called  it  into  being. 

The  health  of  Bishop  England. — In  the  state  a  patriot — In  the 
church  a  living  evidence  of  the  wisdom  of  those  institutions  which  tole- 
rate all  religions  and  legalize  none. 

This  toast  having  been  received  with  acclamations,  bishop  England 
addressed  the  president  substantially  thus: 

Sir — I  acknowledge  myself  to  be  very  deeply  affected  by  the  very 
kind  and  unexpected  manner  in  which  my  name  has  been  introduced  tc 
this  company,  by  a  friend,  to  whom  I  owe  very  many  obligations  for  re- 
peated acts  of  friendship,  and  several  manifestations  of  esteem;  but  sir,, 
the  favour  has  been  greatly  enhanced  by  the  more  than  flattering  way 
in  which  his  proposition  has  been  received  by  so  highly  respectable  a 
society  of  my  fellow  citizens,  upon  whose  bounty  I  cannot  pretend  to 
any  claim. 

Allow  me,  whilst  I  express  my  gratitude,  to  assure  them  that  I  at  least 
respond  to  their  sentiment.  My  kind  friend  has  said  that  I  was  a  patriot 
in  the  state.  I  should  be  one — I  came  to  South  Carolina  a  stranger,  un- 
known, unproved — she  took  me  to  her  bosom,  she  enrolled  me  amongst 
her  sons,  sho  protected  me.  I  pledged  to  her  my  allegiance — I  could  not 
be  recreant  nor  ungrateful.  From  many  of  her  children  in  various  parts 
of  the  State,  under  a  variety  of  circumstances,  1  have  received  strong 
proofs  of  respect  and  of  attachment;  from  her  legislators,  I  have,  on 
various  occasions,  experienced  flattering  attention  and  ample  justice.  I 
have  no  merit,  therefore,  in  striving  to  cherish  within  me  that  love  for 
Carolina  which  has  been  inspired  by  her  own  kindness  in  my  regard. 

I  came  10  Carolina  to  promulgate  a  religion  of  which  she  had  but  little 
knowledge;  I  should  more  properly  say,  concerning  which  she  made  great 
mistakes.  She  had  little  opportunity  of  knowing  what  it  is — that  is  no 
fault  of  hers;  she  was  not  to  be  blamed  for  not  beiug  acquainted  with 
tenets  which  she  hud  no  opportunity  of  learning.     She  had  boon  told. 


BISHOPS  FULL,  VerSUS,  BISHOPS  EMPTY.  167 

and  led  to  believe  that  they  were  what  they  are  not;  hnt  though  labour- 
ing under  this  serious  disadvantage,  the  extended  to  me  her  iudulgence. 
1  obtained  every  common  right  for  which  I  found  it  necessary  to  ask — I 
was  entitled  to  no  privilege,  and  did  not  look  for  any.  And  when  I 
draw  the  contrast  between  the  conduct  of  this  State  arid  that  of  others 
upon  this  topic,  I  am  more  strongly  impelled  to  the  love  of  our  southern 
section.     We  stand  here  in  glorious  relief  as  contrasted  with  others. 

I  believe  that  my  friend  used  one  expression  which  I  would  correct. — 
Did  he  not  speak  of  religious  toleration,  or  toleration  of  religion?  The 
meaning  of  that  phrase  cannot  be  his  sentiment;  I  know  him  too  well  to 
suspect  such  to  be  the  case.  I  am  a  Carolinian.  I  grant  no  toleration  to 
him  who  differs  from  me,  because  he  possesses  the  right  as  fully  as  I  do. 
It  would  not  only  be  treason  to  our  Constitution,  but  a  traitorous  folly 
in  our  own  regard  to  talk  of  toleration  ! 

And  whilst  I  am  prepared  to  defend  my  own  right  to  the  profession  and 
the  practice  of  the  religion  to  which  I  adhere,  I  am  ready  to  protect  the 
religious  opponent  who  differs  most  widely  from  me  in  the  same  enjoy- 
ment; for  if  I  permit  his  right  to  be  infringed,  I  undermine  my  own. — 
Thus  as  the  sentiment  of  my  kind  friend  expresses,  it  is  wisdom  for  our 
state  to  sustain  our  perfect  religious  freedom,  and  it  would  be  a  suicidal 
fanaticism  for  any  religious  body  in  this  republic  to  aid  in  procuring  any 
diminution  of  the  civil  rights  of  any  other. 

These,  sir,  have  always  been  my  convictions — I  have  so  proclaimed 
them  as  I  felt  them,  strongly  and  without  restriction.  Once  I  did  fear 
that  the  same  bad  spirit,  which  elsewhere  has  overshadowed  some  of  our 
legislative  halls,  was  about  to  spread  its  sable  wings  over  our  own.  1 
did  believe  that  its  influence  was  about  to  be  manifested  in  a  refusal  to 
the  church  over  which  I  preside,  of  an  indulgence  which  is  granted  to 
every  other.  I  proclaimed  what  I  feared,  I  showed  the  legislators  that 
even  without  their  aid  I  could  attain  my  object,  by  using  my  private 
right  as  a  citizen;  but  I  had  another,  and  I  trust  a  nobler  motive,  for  the 
anxiety  which  I  felt — I  was  proud  of  Carolina — I  loved  the  untarnished 
honor  of  the  south — and  I  trembled  lest  I  should  see  our  State  placed  by 
the  side  of  others  in  the  degradation  of  bigotry.  But  they  showed  me 
that  I  was  deceived,  and  their  vote  of  the  next  day  proved  to  me,  that  in 
place  of  having  any  well-founded  apprehension,  I  was  only  troubled  by 
a  nervous  sensibility — and  the  enactments  of  our  State  prove  her  wis- 
dom, whilst  they  show  her  to  be  just  and  generous,  as  she  will  always 
continue  to  be,  by  protecting  all  her  children  in  their  religious  rights, 
whilst  she  gives  no  preference  to  any  one  above  another. 

Allow  me,  sir,  to  repeat  my  thanks  for  the  manner  in  which  so  humble 
a  name  ha3  been  introduced  and  received  by  your  society. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  Mr.  England  avows  in  the 
most  unqualified  terms,  that  the  object  of  his  settlement 
in  Carolina  was  uto  promulgate"  the  papal  system;  a 
system  which  he  admits  the  people  knew  little  of,  had 
not  enjoyed  many  opportunities  of  learning,  and  had 
made  great  mistakes  about.  This  admission  at  once 
puts  to  silence,  all  the  outcry  which  this  individual  and 
his  friends  have  setup;  about  the  intolerance  of  Protest- 


168         bishops  full,  versus,  BISHOPS  empty. 

ants,  in  their  opposition  to  the  papacy.  Here  are  people 
who  avow  their  object  to  be,  the  promulgation  of  a  reli- 
gion— as  to  us,  new,  misunderstood,  and  mistaken. — 
They  come  as  apostles  of  a  better  system,  and  demand 
its  examination  and  adoption.  We  have  examined  it; 
we  discover  it  to  be  one  great  mass  of  lies,  folly  and 
corruption;  we  find  its  aim  to  be  universal  domination; 
and  its  past  history  written  in  blood.  We  are  resolved 
not  to  embrace  it;  nor  to  permit  our  countrymen  to  be 
deceived  into  the  fatal  error  of  so  doing,  if  we  can  pos- 
sibly prevent  them.  And  now  when  we  tell  Mr.  Eng- 
land all  this  to  his  teeth;  he  "promulgates"  his  creed,  by 
secret  devices  rather  than  open  and  manly  exposition; by 
dinner  harangues  over  the  bottle,  rather  than  fair  contro- 
versy on  the  rostrum  or  through  the  press.  Nay  he 
throws  off,  when  occasion  requires  it,  his  character  of  an 
apostle  coming  to  enlighten  and  convert  a  whole  peo- 
ple; and  raising  the  silly  cry  of  intolerance  and  persecu- 
tion, on  the  part  of  those  who  refuse  to  be  converted  by 
him,  sneaks  ingloriously  off,  or  defends  his  system  only 
when  his  courage  is  warmed  over  his  potations.  Said 
we  not  truly — that  a  double  faced  God,  is  their  just  em- 
blem ?  Pity  that  the  face  of  the  lion  should  conceal  the 
heart  of  the  stag. 

But  our  principal  object  with  regard  to  Mr.  Bishop 
England  at  this  time,  is  to  point  out  the  flat,  positive,  and 
repeated  contradictions  between  this  dinner  speech,  and 
the  plain  and  repeated  oaths,  taken  by  this  same  indivi- 
dual, on  the  most  solemn  occasions;  oaths  by  virtue  of 
which  he  is  and  continues  to  be  a  papist— a  Jesuit-— a 
bishop— and  an  inquisitor;  or  as  many  of  those  notable 
characters,  as  he  may  confess  that  he  sustains.  In  the 
speech,  the  author  declares  himself,  to  be  thoroughly  and 
on  principle  and  conviction,  devoted  to  the  most  absolute 
religious  liberty,  for  all  mankind.  He  declares  that  it 
would  be  treason  to  the  constitution,  traitorous  folly  on  the 
part  of  Papists,— suicidal  fanaticism,— -degradation  and 
bigotry,  unwise,  unjust  and  ungenerous;  to  trespass  in  the 
smallest  degree,  or  to  connive  at  it  on  the  part  of  others, 
even  the  state  itself  or  restrict  in  the  least,  the  most  ab- 
solute equality  of  religious  liberty  as  between  one  person 


BISHOPS  FULL,  Versus,  BISHOPS  EMPTY.  169 

and  another,  and  the  most  unlimited  freedom  to  all!— 
Well  done  bishop  England  !  We  venture  to  predict  that 
this  prelate  will  make  hiiiistlt"  scaiceat  Rome,  from  the 
moment  this  speech  falls  under  the  eyes  of  the  congre- 
gation of  the  Index, — or  that  for  inquisition  into  hereti- 
cal piwrity.-~.En  passant,  let  us  say  in  this  dignitary's 
ear,  that  we  have  long  been  in  possession  of  the  facts, 
relative  to  his  4th  of  July  speech  in  Rome,  and  the 
trouble  he  got  into,  and  how  he  was  gotten  out  of  it  by 
the  generosity  of  the  Americans  then  in  that  sink  of  cor- 
ruption. We  had  the  facts,  years  ago,  from  one  of  the 
parties;  a  Kentuckian  then  at  Rome. — But  to  return  to 
the  matter  in  hand;  perhaps  he  has  a  dispensation  to  talk 
politics  and  praise  liberty  in  the  U.  S.  ?  Well  done 
bishop  England— -full !  Oh  !  that  his  sentiments  and 
oaths  when  empty,  accorded  with  these  just  and  true 
statements. — That  they  do  not — that  they  are  directly  at 
variance  with  them;  and  that  bishop  England  himself  is 
solemnly  sworn  to  diametrically  opposite  and  irreconcile- 
able  statements — we  shall  now  proceed  to  show  in  the 
clearest  possible  light. 

In  the  13th  article  of  the  creed  of  Pope  Pius  IV. — 
every  time  bishop  England  has  repeated  it,  he  has  said 
"I  acknowledge  the  holy  Catholic  and  apostolical  Roman 
church,  the  mother  and  mistress  of  all  churches;  and  I 
promise  and  swear,  true  obedience  to  the  Roman  bishop, 
the  successor  of  Saint  Peter,  prince  of  the  apostles,  and 
vicar  of  Jesus  Christ."  And  as  often  as  he  has  repeat- 
ed the  same  universal  standard  of  his  church  he  has  said 
in  the  words  of  the  15th  article;  "this  true  Catholic 
faith,  out  of  which  none  can  be  saved,  which  I  now  freely 
profess,  and  truly  hold,  I  John  England,  promise,  vow, 
and  swear,  most  constantly  to  hold  and  profess  the 
same,  whole  and  entire,  with  God's  assistance,  to  the 
end  of  my  life;  and  to  procure,  as  far  as  lies  in  my  power, 
that  the  same  shall  be  held,  taught  and  preached,  by  all 
who  are  under  me,  or  are  entrusted  to  my  care,  by  virtue 
of  my  office.  So  help  me  God,  and  these  holy  gospels 
of  God." 

Now  the  chatechism  of  the  Council  of  Trent  declares 
it  to  be  of  faith  in  this  holy  church,  to  which  the  bishop 
15 


170  BISHOPS   FULL,  Vei'SUS,   BISHOPS   EMPTY. 

has  hound  his  souj;  "that  hereticks  and  schisi/iatics,   ere 
Still  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  church,  and  I'm. 
he  anathematised  and  punished  by  it."    (see  Cat.  Coun- 
cil Trent,  page  94. ) 

The  papal  church  has  put  translations  of  the  Scrip- 
tures into  all  vulgar  languages,  when  not  accompanied 
by  authorised  notes,  into  the  Index  of  prohibited  Looks; 
that  is,  they  are  prohibited.  The  church  has  reserved  to 
herself  the  right  to  give  a  version  with  proper  no* 
And  she  has  done  so;  impliedly  at  least.  In  1582  the 
Jesuits  at  Rheirns  published  an  English  version  of  the 
New  Testament,  with  authorised  notes;  and  both  the 
version  and  the  notes,  have  been  repeatedly  printed  by 
competent  papal  authority  in  various  countries,  and  both 
are  in  circulation  amongst  Papists  to  this  hour.  In  a 
note  on  Matthew,  xiii.  29,  it  is  taught  "that  where  bad 
men,  whether  malefactors  or  hereticks,  can  be  punish- 
ed or  suppressed,  without  disturbance  and  hazard  of  the 
good,  they  may  and  ought  by  public  authority,  either 
spiritual  or  temporal,  to  be  chastised  or  executed."  In 
a  comment  on  Luke  ix.  55,  the  infallible  church  teaches 
"that  rigorous  punishment  of  sinners  is  not  forbidden — 
nor  the  church,  nor  Christian  princes  blamed,  for  put- 
ting hereticks  to  death." 

In  the  usual  forms  of  papal  excommunication,  the 
heretick  is  not  only  "excommunicated,  anathematised, 
cursed,  and  separated  from  the  threshold  of  the  church:" 
but  with  a  minuteness  almost  as  ridiculous  and  indecent, 
as  it  is  horribly  blasphemous,  he  is  cursed  in  every  part 
of  his  body — every  act  of  his  being,  every  spot  where  he 
reposes;  and  then  all  who  favour,  countenance,  or  in  any 
way  protect,  comfort  or  even  converse  or  deal  with  him, 
are  cursed  with  the  same  bitterness.  Nor  is  this  the  case 
only  with  gross  heretics,  and  on  special  occasions:  but 
annually  on  the  16th  day  of  April,  when  that  day  is 
Thursday,  or  otherwise  on  the  Thursday  nearest  thereto, 
all  the  "Hussites,  Wickliffites,  Lutherans,  Zuinglians, 
Oalvinists,  1  [ugonots,  Anabaptists,  Trinitarians,  and 
other  apostates  from  the  faith;"  with  all  their  "adherents, 
receivers,  favourers  and  defenders;  and  all  other  heretics 
by  whatsoever  name  they   are  called,    or  of  whatsoever 


BISHOPS  FULL,  Versus,  BISHOPS  EMPTY.  171 

sect  they  be,  together  with  all  who,  without  authority — 
read,  or  even  retain  their  booLs,  and  together  with  all 
schismatics — and  such  as  obstinately  recede  from  their 
obedience  to  the  Roman  pontiil:" — in  short,  every  Pro- 
testant on  earth  is  thus  Largely  and  fully  damned  for  time 
and  eternity.  And  SO  sacred  a  duty  is  this,  on  the  part 
of  bishop  England  himself,  and  every  other  papal  pre- 
late; that  the  day  is  called  in  their  calendar  "holy 
thursdaw"  For  the  Bulla  in  Ccsna  Domini  at  large 
the  reader  is  referred  to  the  Bullarium  Laertii  Cherubim, 
Romse  1638,  Tom.  iii>  p.  183,  It  will  also  be  found  in 
vol.  ii.  (1836)  p.  225 — 40  of  the  Baltimore  Literary 
Religious  Magazine.  And  the  curious  reader  will  see 
on  p.  69 — 70,  of  a  work  explanatory  of  the  ceremonies 
of  the  holy  week  at  Rome,  by  this  very  bishop  England, 
some  account  of  this  horrible  bull.  The  bishop,  appears 
however  to  have  been  empty,  just  then;  and  therefore  is 
neither  as  candid  nor  as  communicative  as  he  sometimes 
is.  Sir  Henry  Spelman  has  preserved  in  his  Glossary ,  p. 
206,  the  form  of  excommunication  used  against  a  poor 
fellow,  who  eloped  from  the  pope's  alum  works  ;  and 
such  profanity,  impiety,  and  malignity,  the  devil  himself 
could  hardly  surpass. 

The  "Laity's  Directory,  or  Catholic  Almanac  for  1836" 
— published  at  the  Baltimore  cathedral  by  archiepisco- 
pal  authority  informs  us,  that  the  IV.  council  of  Lateran 
was  the  12th  general  council;  and  of  course,  that  its  de- 
crees wrere  irrevocable  and  infallible.  Now  we  are  fur- 
nished in  the  Annals  of  Cardinal  Barronius,  continued  by 
Bzovius,  vol.  XIII.  p.  226-7,  with  a  full  decree  of  that 
holy  council,  as  to  the  mode  of  judging  and  punishing  here- 
ticks.  In  that  decree  the  secular  power  is  directed,  and 
the  spiritual  is  commanded  to  teach  and  aid  the  secular 
in  its  duty, — to  exterminate  hereticks.  But  if  the  secu- 
lar power  refuses,  it  is  to  be  excommunicated  and  extermi- 
nated itself ;  and  the  country  given  to  any  Catholics  who 
are  able  to  conquer  it.  And  to  induce  them  to  undertake 
it,  all  are  promised  the  same  favours  and  indulgences  in 
kitting  hereticks,  as  in  killing  Turks  or  Saracens.  Let 
it  be  remembered  that  bishop  England  has  veiy  often  as- 
serted, in  the  words  of  the  14th  article  of  the  creed  of 
Pius  IV.  that  uhe  undoubtedly  receives  all  things  deliver- 


172  bishops  full,  versus,  BISHOPS  empty. 

ed,  defined  and  declared,  by  all  general  councils ;"  of  course 
therefore  by  the  IV.  general  council  of  Lateran  !  Still 
further  in  the  same  article,  he  proceeds  to  say,  and  has 
doubtless  said  many  thousands  of  times;  " that  he  con- 
demns, rejects  and  anathematises,  all  heresies  whatever, 
condemned,  rejected  and  anathematised  by  the  church:"  of 
course  then,  all  the  real  Protestantism  on  earth  !  Now- 
let  any  candid  man  compare  Mr.  England^)///,  with  Mr. 
England  empty;  and  say  is  he  not  worthy  to  have  Jamjs, 
written  both  on  the  back  and  front  of  his  head? 

Thus  far  we  have  only  considered  our  table  orator,  in 
the  light  of  a  private  member  of  the  papal  community  ; 
and  have  shown  1st  from  the  creed  of  the  church;  2nd 
from  the  standard  catechism  of  the  church;  3d  from  the 
authorised  notes,  to  the  authorised  version  of  their  New- 
Testament;  4th  from  the  uniform  and  yearly  practice  of 
all  their  bishops  as  well  as  the  common  forms  of  their 
excommunication;  and  5th  from  the  decision  of  a  holy 
general  council,  that  every  word  uttered  by  the  full  ora- 
tor,— the  empty  Papist  has  sworn  to  be  false,  heretical 
and  abominable  !  But  unhappily  for  our  o»ator,  we  have 
other  and  still  more  conclusive  evidence  of  the  discrep- 
ancy between  his  wTords  when/u//,  and  his  oaths  when 
empty,  furnished  by  still  more  solemn  and  awful  oaths 
which  we  presume  he  dare  not  deny  that  he  has  sworn. 
Is  bishop  England  a  Jesuit?  Now,  please  your  lord- 
ship— a  plain  civil  answer— -full  or  empty  ;  is  bishop 
England  a  Jesuit?  If  he  is,  he  will  find  in  Vol.  1,  of 
The  Bait.  Lit.  and  Rel.  Magazine,  (for  August,  1835;) 
and  in  the  2d  Vol.  of  McGavin's  Protestant;  and  in  the 
Collection  called  "Foxes  and  Firebrands"  as  quoted  by 
archbishop  Usher;  "The  oath  of  Secrecy"  of  the  Jesuits. 
In  that  oath  he  will  find  a  full  declaration  of  the  power 
of  the  pope  to  depose  kings  and  subvert  states;  then  a 
full  renunciation  of  all  allegiance  to  all  heretical  states; 
then  amongst  other  tremendous  specimens  of  hard  swear- 
ing— the  swearing  in  Flanders,  in  uncle  Toby's  day, 
was  nothing  to  it — the  following  words:  "J  do  further 
declare  that  I  will  help,  assist,  and  advise,  all  or  any  of  his 
holiness' s  agents  in  any  place ,  where  1  shall  be  in  England, 
Scotland  and  Ireland,  or  in  any  other  kingdom  or  territory 


BISHOPS  FULL,  VCrSUS,  BISHOPS  EMPTY.  173 

I  shall  come  to;   (as  for  example  South  Carolina,)  and  do 
my  utmost  to  extirpate  the  heretical  Pmtestanfs"  doctrine, 

^AND   TO  DESTROY  ALL  Til  KIR  PRETENDED  POWERS,  KKCAL 

or  otherwise."—  What  tines  your  lordship  think  of  that 
-—as  a  commentary  on  your  fourth  of  July  speech?   Truly 
we  have  heard  your  pulpit  orations  with  wonder;  but  eve: 
in  them  we  never  heard  text  and  sermon  so  unlike  as  thi: 
oath  and  the  dinner  speech. 

We  have  one  more  question  to  put.  Is  Mr.  John  En- 
gland—-really  and  truly  a  bishop  of  the  Catholic,  apostolic, 
Roman  church?  If  he  is,  he  will  find  in  Vol.  1.  of  The 
Bait.  Lit.  and Rel.  Magazine,  (for  May,  1835:)  and  in  the 
masterly  work  of  Barrow  on  the  Pope's  supremacy;  and 
in  the  Pontificate  Romanian;  the  oath  of  allegiance 
and  vassalage,  taken  by  every  bishop  to  the  pope  of 
Rome.  If  Mr.  John  England  is  a  bishop  in  that  church, 
he  has  sw^orn  an  oath,  by  the  influence  of  which  he  ceas- 
es to  be  of  a  right,  a  citizen  of  any  nation,  and  becomes 
the  mere  servile  agent  of  the  pope;  an  oath  which  if  he 
keep  not,  it  is  terrific  perjury,  and  if  he  keep,  it  is  con- 
tinual treason;  an  oath  anti-social  and  anti-Christian  in 
every  feature  of  it,  which  no  government  ought  to  tole- 
rate for  one  moment — and  which  tends  directly  to  the 
subversion  of  all  possible  governments.  The  Bull  In 
Ccena  Domini,  sets  the  pope  up  as  virtual  sovereign  of 
the  wThole  world  ;  and  the  bishop's  oath,  organises  the 
corps  of  leaders  in  the  army  destined  to  make  the 
vast  conquest.  Wre  extract  from  this  oath  a  single  sen- 
tence— and  beg  Mr.  England,  if  he  be  indeed  a  papal 
bishop,  to  reconcile  this  sentence  with  his  Charleston 
speech.  "Heretics,  schismatics,  and  rebels  to  our  said 
Lord  or  his  foresaid  successors,  (that  is  to  our  lord  pope 
Gregory  XVI.  now  reigning  and  his  successors  canonical- 
ly  coming  in) — i  will  to  my  power  persecute  and 
oppose;  pro  posse  persequar  et  impugnabo! !" — Beware  my 
lord  bishop,  that  men  are  not  obliged  to  wTrite  Janus,  on 
both  sides  of  your  head,  as  well  as  on  its  rear  and  front. 
Beware  lest  a  credulous  and  insulted  people,  at  length 
discover  that  the  discrepancy  between  your  real  princi- 
ples, and  your  jack-straw  speeches — is  too  great  to  be 
accounted  for,  on  the  hypothesis  of  full  and  empty. 
15* 


174  BISHOPS  FULL,  VerSUS,   BISHOPS   EMPTY. 

In  sober  seriousness,  do  not  such  cases  exhibit  poor 
human  nature  in  a  light  unutterably  despicable?  Here 
are  men  concealing  their  real  principles,  and  propagating 
others,  for  which  they  themselves  will  burn  their  brother, 
the  moment  they  have  the  power.  Here  are  priests  pre- 
tending to  believe  that  their  church  is  infallible;  and  yet 
contradicting  publicly,  the  most  cherished  definitions  and 
decrees  of  that  very  church.  Here  are  persons  pretend- 
ing to  be  Christians;  and  deceiving  habitually  the  pro- 
fessing Christians  around  them,  as  to  the  most  important 
matters  regarding  time  and  eternity.  Here  are  citizens 
professing  to  love  their  country,  either  native  or  adopt- 
ed; and  plotting  treason  against  liberty,  social  order,  and 
all  human  institutions  that  deserve  to  exist. — No  men 
ever  did  this  but  popish  priests.  God  has  called  their 
system  "the  mystery  of  iniquity;"  and  said  of  its  minis- 
ters, that  they  "speak  lies  in  hypocrisy" — and  act  with 
all  "deceiveableness  of  unrighteousness."— Blessed  be 
his  name,  he  has  had  in  all  ages  "those  who  were  called, 
and  chosen — and  faithful;"  and  to  these  his  great  and 
precious  promises  are  full  and  ample,  that  all  his  and  their 
enemies,  shall  one  day  melt  away  before  the  brightness 
of  his  glorious  coming.  In  the  holy  kingdom  which  he 
will  set  up  on  the  ruins  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  well 
do  we  know,  that  "they  who  love  and  make  a  lie,"  shall 
have  no  place. 

We  venture,  in  closing  this  subject,*  to  recommend  to 
our  readers  the  discussion  on  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  as  affected  by  the  tenets  of  the  Papal  and  Pres- 
byterian systems,  by  the  present  Bishop  Hughes  and  the 
Rev.  Dr.  John  Breckinridge;  in  wrhich  they  will  find 
the  whole  matter  thoroughly  sifted,  and  the  real  and  anti- 
social not  to  say  diabolical  principles  of  Romanism,  set 
in  their  true  light,  and  fastened  upon  the  deceitful  super- 
stition and  its  wiley  and  unscrupulous  advocate---by  ir- 
refragable proofs. 


175 


NUMBER   XV  111 

FIRST    KENTUCKY    CONSECRATION,    OF    u  MY    LORD 
PURCELL." 

About  the  beginning  of  December  (1837)  there  oc- 
curred at  Lexington  Kentucky,  one  of  those  indescriba- 
ble scenes,  which  a  sudden  and  causeless  panic  some- 
times produces  ;  by  which  the  long  projected  and  care- 
fully got  up  show,  of  consecrating  a  papal  chapel — was 
turned  into  a  most  uproarous  affair.  Nobody  was  seri- 
ously injured,  as  we  have  reason  to  believe;  multitudes 
had  hearty  laughs  afterwards  at  what  befel  them  there; 
and  this  good  resulted  from  the  threatened  evil,  that  the 
whole  affair  became  a  subject  of  ridicule,  instead  of  an 
engine  for  promoting  papal  influence  in  that  delightful 
town.  We  will  recount  the  matter — out  of  lack  of  ca- 
pacity for  more  weighty  business — during  an  hour  of 
bodily  and  mental  lassitude  ;  and  perhaps  it  will  hurt 
nobody  to  smile  at  the  expense  of  those,  who  have  given 
the  world  so  many  occasions  for  weeping. 

Lexington  is  a  delightful  spot,  seated  in  the  midst  of 
the  fin€st  district  of  America,  enjoying  a  climate  not  sur- 
passed in  beauty  and  sweetness — and  inhabited  by  a 
population,  worthy,  if  any  could  be,  of  the  blessings 
they  enjoy.  It  is  moreover,  so  to  speak,  a  sort  of  west 
end,  not  only  to  Kentucky,  but  also  to  the  southern  coun- 
try below  it;  and  from  year  to  year,  persons  of  refine- 
ment and  wealth,  as  well  as  persons  seeking  knowledge 
and  those  in  pursuit  of  health — not  only  resort  to  it  tem- 
porarily on  account  of  its  many  advantages, — but  become 
permanent  residents.  It  is  however,  and  has  been  from 
the  first  settlement,  a  Protestant  place,  inhabited  by  Pro- 
testant people.  In  an  out  lot  of  the  town  there  did  in- 
deed stand  a  small  chapel,  w7here  a  few  Romans,  as  the 
people  called  them,  met  in  shy  privacy,  once  in  a  year 
or  two — and  there  went  through  certain  queer  facings 
and  wheelings,  which  made  the  boys  wonder.  And 
there  were  a  few,  but  very  few  people — decent,  but  only 


176  FIRST  KENTUCKY  CONSECRATION, 

a  handfull, — old  Mr.  Tibbats  the  baker,  old  Jerry  Mur- 
phy the  constable,  old  Mr.  Ilickey  the  white-smith — and 

a  lew  others — who  privately  professed  this  uncooth  faith. 

Thus  matters  stood,  for  a  long,  long  time.  At  length, 
about  six  years  ago,  the   Papifi  to  have   made  a 

simultaneous  movement  all  oyer  the  country;  and  the  citv 
of  Lexington  was  one  of  the  selected  fields  of  their 
labours  for  converting  back  the  American  people  to  king 
craft,  priest-craft,  and  we  know  not  what  besides.  Sud- 
denly there  appeared  there,  priests  and  nuns,  in  anyde- 
sirable  quantity.  How  strange  it  is,  these  priests  and 
nuns  should  forswear  each  other's  society  and  yet  con- 
stantly stick  together;  renounce  each  other's  company 
and  yet  never  be  found  apart !  But  no  matter.  They 
came  to  Lexington  merely  to  do  good.  Were  so  anxi- 
ous to  nurse  the  sick;  so  devoted  to  orphans;  so  eager  to 
teach  schools;  that  is,  howrever, — and  it  is  very  odd,  only 
to  care  for  Protestant  sick,  feed  Protestants  orphans,  and 
teach protestant  schools.  In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye — 
all  things  were  changed.  Those  who  were  secret  Ro- 
mans before,  came  openly  forth;  those  who  were  luke- 
warm, became  bold;  those  who  were  careless,  became  ex- 
cessively pious,  particularly  after  grog-time  of  day. — 
Property  which  was  supposed  to  belong  to  Mr.  Such-a- 
one,  was  found  to  be  the  heritage  of  the  church  ;  money 
in  abundance  was  ready;  accommodations  for  the  sisters, 
and  possibly  for  a  few  others  not  so  certainly  sisters, 
were  at  once  erected;  and  arrangements  made  to  erect 
a  new  church  in  the  town. 

This  is  all  the  common  course  of  things,  Only  at 
Lexington,  after  all  the  raking  and  scraping,  not  half 
enough  Romans  could  be  got  to  fill  the  little  old  house  in 
the  back  lots  as  you  went  the  back  way  to  Fowler's  gar- 
den; and  therefore  a  big  chapel,  erected  in  the  city  and 
holding  itself  forth  with  much  pretension,  could  be  of 
course,  only  an  engine  for  proselyting,  of  rather  more 
than  ordinary  boldness.  However,  so  the  affair  was. 
And  what  with  contributions  coaxed  out  of  liberal  Pro- 
testants on  talse  pretences,  and  taxes  levied  on  the  faith- 
ful throughout  that  diocese,  and  alms  contributed  by  the 
Leopold  Foundation, and  other  foreign  associations, powers 
and  potentates  (see   pp.    123 — 4,  ante,)  the  chapel  at 


OT  "my  lord  purcell."  177 

last  approached  its  completion;  and  in  the  autumn  of 
1837,  the  grand  event  of  its  consecration  was  to  occur. 
This  whole  matter  of  religious  juggling  is  to  OS,  B 
great  barbarianism;  doubtless  we  are  great  barbarians  to 
it.  But  the  idea  of  baptising  a  bell,  sanctifying  a  house 
or  a  grave  yard,— blessing  cups  and  plates,  pow-  wowing 
over  bits  of  wax  or  metal,  and  such  nonsense;  is  too 
silly  to  amuse  grown  children  with,— -and  worse  than  ri- 
diculous, when  used  as  a  means  of  pleasing  God  and  ob- 
taining his  favour.  The  Romans  at  Lexington  thought 
otherwise,  and  we  are  clear  for  their  right  to  think  as 
they  please;  only  give  us  also  our  right  to  think  of  their 
thoughts  with  the  same  freedom. 

In  due  time  all  their  arrangements  were  made.  The 
chapel  was  fixed  off,  all  just  so.  The  doll  babies  to  re- 
present saints  and  angels  all  dressed  up.  The  long  wrhite 
sticks  writh  wax  ends,  all  set  about  the  altar  to  give  light 
in  1he  day-time.  The  little  boys  and  their  bells  to  jingle, 
and  their  crimped  wThite  over-shirts,  as  nice  as  could  be. 
Every  thing— prim  and  snug;  and  all  the  sisters  dying 
with  anxiety,  and  all  the  fathers  chuckling  at  their  com- 
ing glorification.  The  music  and  the  machinery  to  praise 
God  withal,  tried  and  retried;  all  right  Every  part 
practised;  all  perfect. — Alas!  that  even  the  consecration 
of  a  chapel  should  be  subject  to  chance  and  fate.  Alas! 
that  the  best  concerted  schemes,  should  be  liable  to  de- 
rangement— yea  to  sad  and  signal  failure! 

Time  and  tide  pause  not  on  their  ceaseless  course. 
The  eventful  day  at  last  arrived.  The  musicians  were  at 
their  posts.  'The  fathers  were  in  their  best  array  of  white 
and  red,  and  scarlet  and  violet,  cut  into  all  sorts  of  fantas- 
tic shapes.  The  people  streamed  into  the  chapel — and 
filled  it  up,  jam — cram  full.  In  came  the  gang  of  ope- 
rators,— boys,  lads,  men;  wThite,  parti-coloured,  red;  dea- 
cons, priests,  and  "my  Lord  Purcell"  of  Cincinnati,  at 
their  head;— in  they  came  all  bowing  and  scraping  to- 
wards the  long  white  sticks  with  the  wTax  ends — and  all 
dodging  and  capering  like  ducks  in  a  thunderstorm.  All 
looked  their  prettiest,  and  at  their  head  "my  Lord  Pur- 
cell," as  we  have  said,  demure  and  prim,  as  his  "prince- 
ly grace"  himself  of  Vienna,  who  about  that  very  time 


178  first  Kentucky  consecration^ 

got  his  cis-Atlantic  brother,  "successor"  of  the  apostles 
—into  so  sad  a  scrape,  about  those  naughty  Ohio  free 
schools.  By  the  by,  speaking  of  "successors"-— we  in- 
cline to  think,  "my  Lord  Pure  ell*'  has  exhibited  better 
evidence  of  being  Peter's  successor,  than  most  of  the 
popes  of  Rome  ever  did.  We  mean  not  hi- 
as  apostle,  nor  as  preacher,  nor  as  Christian;  but 
the  fact,  of  being  caught  in  a  tremendous  s<iy-oin-thin<j;- 
to-day—and-another-to-morrow!  That  was  a  very  ugly 
affair,  to  praise  the  free  schools  to  the  people  of  Ohio, 
and  denounce  them  in  his  letters  to  Austria.  Few  po- 
pish bishops  show  much  resemblance  to  converted  Peter; 
"my  Lord  Purcell"  seems  very  like  Peter,  when  denying 
with  oaths,  his  own  words  and  deeds! 

But  we  wander.  The  house  is  full— and  the  scenes 
are  begun.  The  censers  are  lighted;  the  doll  babies  are 
getting  smoked;  the  incense  is  rising  in  clouds,  as  they 
pass  up  and  down  the  crowded  aisles.  A  chap  in  the 
gallery  seeing  the  smoke,  shouts  fire!— A  centinel  fixed 
aloft  to  sound  the  bell  at  the  proper  period,  in  hastening 
up  or  down  broke  a  round  in  a  ladder  at  the  very  moment 
—and  fell  heavily  against  a  stove  pipe  in  the  gallery. 
The  gallery  is  falling!  Fire!  The  gallery  is  falling!  Fire! 
Fire! 

The  scene  that  followed  beggars  all  description.  We 
will  only  attempt  to  give  an  impression  of  some  portions 
of  it. 

The  crowd  rushed  down  the  aisles-— down  the  gallery 
steps— towards  the  outer  doors— over  each  other— upon 
each  other— pell  mell— man,  woman  and  child, ---white 
black  and  yeliow,— gentle  and  simple— rush,  rush,  rush. 
Fire!  The  gallery  is  falling! 

Bonnets  are  twisted  awry— down  shoulder  pads  and 
mutton-leg-sleeves  are  mashed  up— satin  slippers  are  bad 
protectors  for  toes  under  other  people's  heels— fine  fa- 
bricks  that  ircrc  dresses,  are  hardly  to  be  called  so  now. 
"Skin  for  skin,"  saith  Job,  "all  that  a  man  hath"  (yea, 
and  ladies  too,  even  their  finery)  "will  he  give  for  his 
life." 

Mr.  A.  ran  and  jumped  through  a  window.  Mutt  B. 
mounted  the  window  sill,  and  in  the  ecstacy  of  her  terror 


OF  "MY  LORD  PURCELL."  179 

patted  juba.  Mrs.  C  was  thrown  down  and  walked 
over,  in  defiance  both  of  prayers  and  other  somewhat 
different  remonstrances.  Mis.  J),  standing  on  the  back 
of  a  pew  was  knocked  head  foremost  over  two,  into  the 
third.  The  Misses.  E.  F.  and  G.  were  shocked  into 
stupor,  by  the  want  of  calmness  of  others.  And  Jake 
Hostutter  declared,  that  when  he  was  squeezed  through 
the  front  door—  "a  pile  of  women  five  feet  high,  was  lay- 
ing before  it." 

But  the  reverend  fathers,  where  were  they?  Their  in- 
stant and  universal  impression,  seems  to  have  been,  that 
it  was  all  a  premeditated  affair-— and  that  a  Protestant 
mob  was  about  to  lynch  the  whole  brotherhood.  A 
guilty  conscience  needs  no  accuser. 

In  this  idea,  the  head  shepherd,  played  the  hireling 
and  put  off.  "Holy  Virgin  Mary"— -cried  "  my  lord 
Purcell"  "pity  and  save  us;"  and  suiting  the  action  to 
the  word— he  made  himself  scarce  through  a  side  door 
—and  was  seen  no  more. 

An  assistant  priest  still  more  alarmed,  escaped  from  the 
house  and  was  caught  half  deranged  with  fright,  and 
half  dead  with  the  unusual  labour— puffing  and  running, 
in  full  canonicals,  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city;  and  wTith 
great  difficulty  was  soothed,  and  broughtback. 

The  parish  priest,  the  incumbent  of  the  place,  more 
resolute,  began  a  harangue  to  the  Protestant  spectators, 
who  composed  at  least  nineteen  twentieths  of  the  audi- 
ence— the  purport  of  which  was,  to  remind  them,  that 
they  at  least,  w^ere  in  no  danger-— as  dogs  never  eat  dogs 
-—and  therefore  Protestants  would  not  mob  Protestants. 
We  grieve  to  say,  the  inference  did  not  commend  itself 
to  the  affrighted  multitude.  But  Colonel  S — ,  taking 
the  idea  possibly  from  the  priests'  attempt,— came  for- 
ward into  the  chancel-— and  would  have  mounted  the 
pulpit— -in  order  to  speak  to  the  people-— and  restore  or- 
der. Sacrilegious  attempt !  Vain  thought !  It  was  a 
consecrated  pulpit ;  that  far  the  work  was  completed  ; 
and  better  let  the  whole  perish,  than  permit  a  heretick  to 
set  foot  in  that  holy  place.  And  boldly  and  successfully 
did  the  father  resist  the  unbelieving  Protestant;  and  on- 
ward raged  the  storm. 


180  FIRST  KENTUCKY  CONSECRATION,  &C 

Impelled  by  a  similar  idea,  a  German  musician  in  the 
gallery— leaned  over  the  rail  and  began  to  shout  in  a  lin- 
go which  nobody  comprehended— that  there  was  no- 
thing to  be  feared  ;  but  his  looks,  gestures,  and  tones, 
betokened  that  every  tiling  was  to  be  feared.  Where- 
upon the  fright  only  the  more  increased.  And  when  as 
a  final  and  desperate  resort,  the  orchestra  struck  up  its 
various  and  discordant  tones— to  sooth  and  quiet,  or  at 
least  disenchant  the  crowd  of  its  terrible  panic ;  the  un- 
certain sounds,  frightful  and  unlooked  for,  augmented  a 
confusion  now  trebly  confounded. 

At  length  however  the  terrible  scene  passed  off.  One 
by  one,  through  doors  and  windows— the  gaily  dressed 
crowd  sallied  forth  rumpled,  agitated,  and  fatigued.— 
And  when  the  last  had  escaped,  it  was  found,  but  appa- 
rently not  before,  that  the  house  was  not  burned— and 
that  the  gallery  had  not  fallen  ! 

First  came  the  hour  of  enquiries.  And  like  the  formal 
report  of  a  colonel  when  the  army  lay  at  Norfolk  during 
the  last  war— this  contest,  like  his,  resulted  in  their  be- 
ing, killed— none  ;  wounded— none  ;  missing— none! 
Frightened  to  death,  and  befooled  out  of  theii  wits  ;  al- 
most all ! 

The  next  hour — was  one  of  convulsive  laughter! 

How  wonderfully  is  man  created  !-— What  a  show  was 
this— what  people  these  to  be  so  moved  by  it— what  a 
scene— what  a  result ! 

But  the  poor  priests  after  all  their  terror  and  mortifica- 
tion, had  this  serious  difficulty  left.  The  consecration 
of  the  house  was  only  half  finished.  What  questions 
for  the  casuists  spring  therefrom !  Is  it  a  half  conse- 
cration of  the  whole  house;  or  is  it  a  whole  consecration 
of  half  the  house?  If  the  former,  is  the  last  half  of  the 
whole  ceremony  to  be  performed;  or  must  the  whole  be 
half  performed?  If  the  latter,  must  the  remaining  half 
of  the  house,  until  it  is  also  consecrated— be  considered 
sanctified  by  the  part  already  finished,  or  only  in  expect- 
ancy and  capacity  of  consecration-— or  as  being  still  the 
abode  of  the  evil  spirits  who  were  so  laboriously  exer- 
cised out  of  the  other  half?— These  are  serious  and 
weighty,  as  well  as  difficult  questions.     We  shall  there- 


LENT ITS  CURIOUS  HISTORY,  &C.        181 

fore  tranquilly  await  their  solution;  hoping  that  'my  lord 
Purcell,'  will  soon  disembarrass  himself  of  the  mistakes 

about  the  quotation  from  Lauori,  and  the  free  schools  of 
Cincinnati,  and  turn  his  great  and  enlightened  faculties 
to  them. 

No  one  who  remembers  the  grace  and  fervour  with 
which  he  publicly  commended  the  system  of  popular 
education  in  Ohio,  to  the  good  people  of  America,  at  the 
very  moment  he  was  secretly  and  officially  denouncing 
the  same  system  in  his  correspondence  with  the  Leopold 
Institution  in  Austria;  nor  any  one  who  considers  the 
inimitable  composure  with  which,  in  his  debate  wTith  Mr. 
Campbell,  he  pledged  his  veracity,  his  honour  and  his 
character,  that  certain  passages  alledged  out  of  Lagori, 
wTere  not  in  the  book,  saying  all  the  while,  that  he  was 
perfectly  familiar  with  its  contents  and  had  used  it  for 
years  as  a  text  book---when  lo  !  the  very  passages  were 
verified  after  the  debate  was  over,  out  of  the  very  book, 
by  Mr.  Smith  (a  converted  priest;)— when  these  things 
are  considered,  no  one  can  doubt,  that  "my  lord  Pur- 
cell,"  is  the  very  man,  for  hard  questions  and  difficult 
cases.     Let  us  therefore  patiently  await  his  decisions. 


NUMBER    XIX. 

LENT ITS   CURIOUS  HISTORY AND  PRESENT  STATE. 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  this  joyous  fast— which  like 
every  thing  else  papal  in  modern  times,  says  one  thing, 
and  means  another.  The  subject  is  worthy  of  a  mo- 
ment's consideration— if  it  were  only  because  such  mul- 
titudes of  our  fellow  beings  deem  it  so.  We  have  there- 
fore taken  the  pains  to  examine  Thomassin's  Traitez 
Hist,  et  Dogmat  des  Jeunes  de  PEglise—Baillet  Fates 
Mobiles j  and  the  Grand  Dictionaire  of  the  Priest  Moreri 
16 


182  LENT ITS  CURIOUS  HISTORY, 

—in  relation  to  the  matter.     The  result  of  our  investi- 
gation follow*. 

J^ent  was  originally  a  protracted  fast  immediately  pre- 
ceding  east EB— which  the  reader  is  aware,  answers  to 
the  feast  of  the  passover  amongst  the  Jews.  At  first  the 
fast  was  voluntary,  and  rigid;  but  for  no  certain  period: 
ordinarily  for  a  few  days  only.  There  is  no  trace  that 
any  obligation  to  keep  a  stated  fast  was  supposed  to  ex- 
ist, in  any  part  of  the  church,  before  the  middle  of  tMe 
third  century.  And  even  after  such  an  observance  was 
supposed  to  be  obligatory— it  was  for  a  long  time  un- 
settled what  number  of  days  should  be  kept  as  a  fast. — 
When  a  fixed  time  was  first  introduced,  it  was  the  period 
of  thirty-six  days;  but  even  then  there  was  no  regularity 
in  its  observance.  For  while  the  Latin  chuich  kept  a 
fast  of  six  weeks  before  easter,  the  Greek  church  ob- 
served one  of  seven  weeks.  Both  however  pretended  to 
keep  the  same  number  of  days---as  the  Greeks  did  not 
fast  either  on  Saturdays  or  Sundays  of  lent,  except  holy- 
Saturday;  while  the  Latins  fasted  every  Saturday-— and 
thus  equalised  the  number  of  days.  The  number  ot 
days  seems  to  have  been  fixed  at  thirty  six,  upon  the  idea 
of  tything  the  year,  and  consecrating  a  tenth  of  our  time 
to  God,  by  mortification  and  penance.  The  views  of  the 
Greek  church  on  the  whole  matter,  and  their  reasons  for 
adhering  to  a  practice  different  from  that  of  the  Latins, 
wrere  fully  set  forth  in  the  council  of  Trullo  A.  D.  642. — 
During  that  century  (the  seventh)  the  number  of  days 
was  increased  to  forty,  in  the  Greek  church,  in  imitation 
of  our  Lord's  fast;  and  the  same  change  took  place 
amongst  the  Latins  two  centuries  later.  But  still  the 
Greeks  took  nine  weeks  to  obtain  their  complement  of 
days,  and  the  Latins  but  seven  wreeks  for  theirs,  on  the 

{>rinciples  already  stated.  But  many  particular  churches 
ong  held  to  their  more  ancient  customs,  of  various  kinds; 
as  in  Milan,  for  example,  where  as  late  as  1563,  it  re- 
quired all  the  authority  of  St.  Churles  Boromio,  backed 
by  the  power  of  the  Roman  See,  to  enforce  the  uniform 
observance  of  the  Latin  system. 

The  manner  of  keeping  lent  was  at  first,  and  for  some 
centuries,  strict.     In  the  western  churches,  meat,  eggs, 


AND  PRESENT  STATE.  183 

milk  and  all  preparations  from  it,  and  wine,  were  forbid- 
den entirely;  and  but  a  single  meal  of  any  tiling,  and  that 
towards  night,  was  allowed  each  day.  Fish  were  not 
forbidden;  though  many  voluntarily  abstained  from  every 
thing  but  fruits  and  vegetables.  As  to  fowls — it  was 
pretty  early  contended,  that  they  were  created  on  the  same 
day  as  fish  and  like  them,  out  of  the  water;  and  that 
therefore  they  were  admissible  like  them  during  lent. — 
But  this  motion  of  the  flesh,  was  not  at  first  wrell  received. 
In  the  eastern  church  lent  was  always  more  rigorously 
kept — and  the  people  generally  confined  themselves  to 
bread  and  water  wTith  vegetables.  Many  of  the  monks, 
however,  (jolly  fellows  !) — revolted  at  this  thin  diet;  and 
those  especially  of  Pontus  and  Capadocia  insisted  on 
the  duty  of  cooking  a  little  salt  meat  with  their  vegeta- 
bles. We  condemn  them  not.  But  as  the  proverb  says 
it  is  not  j  a.-t,  to  make  fish  of  one  and  flesh  of  another, 
—  it  had  been  well  perhaps,  if  they  had  stuck  to  salt  fish 
instead  of  salt  meat.  At  least  the  proverb  contains  as 
much  reason,  as  they  had  who  insisted  on  eating  fish, 
us  a  fast,  because  Peter  was  a  fisherman.  And  for  the 
same  reason  why  not  eat  men?  For  Christ  told  Peter  he 
should  be  a  fisher  of  men.  The  council  of  Ancyra,  in 
substance  allowed  the  meat.  But  St.  Basil,  in  his  con- 
stitutions, denounces  the  monks  as  Eustathians.  We 
rather  guess  his  saintly  eyes  would  open  wide,  if  he  could 
attend  one  of  archbishop  Eccleston's  fast  suppers. 

In  the  progress  of  time  the  rigor  of  fasting  insensibly 
diminished;  and  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  ninth 
century — wine,  eggs,  milk,  butter  and  cheese — were 
permitted  freely;  first  to  the  unwell, — then  to  all  who  had 
not  other  proper  food  to  support  them  under  their  neces- 
sary labours.  Give  a  priest  one  unknown  quantity  in  an 
equation,  and  he  will  bring  out  any  desired  result.  But 
with  three  such  in  one  proposition,  and  his  own  bowels 
the  umpire, — "good  night  to  Marmion."  Still,  how- 
ever, the  fast  was  thus  far  kept — that  only  one  meal  a 
day,  and  that  towards  night — was  allowed.  Though 
this  is  afasting — better  than  the  feasting  of  half  man- 
kind; who  during  the  whole  period  of  the  earth's  dura- 
tion have  probably  not  enjoyed  one  hearty  meal  a  day,  of 
nutritious  and  palatable  food. 


184  LENT—ITS    CURIOUS   HISTORY, 

By  and  by  another  device  was  fallen  on,  to  mitigate 
still  farther  this  pretended  starvation  of  forty  days.  The 
pope  of  Rome,  made  money  from  every  thing  else;  why 
not  from  a  man's  stomach?  Why  should  his  abdomen  be 
more  sacred  than  his  brains  or  his  heart?  The  power  of 
dispensation  had  just  as  good  a  fulcrum  in  the  duode- 
num as  in  the  jaws;  and  liberty  to  eat  may  be  better 
granted,  than  that  to  foreswpar  one's-self.  What  was 
begun,  as  an  exception,  soon  became  the  rule.  In  1475, 
the  pope's  legate  gave  a  dispensation,  to  Germany,  Hun- 
gary and  Bohemia,  to  eat  eggs,  milk,  butter  and  cheese, 
for  five  years,  during  lent.  At  length  even  the  bishops 
in  their  Synods  accorded  such  dispensations;  and  at  pre- 
sent it  is  an  outrage  never  once  thought  of,  that  a  papist 
can  keep  such  a  fast  as  lent — for  forty  whole  days — 
without  eggs,  milk,  butter,  cream  and  cheese  !  It  is 
well  for  them,  that  none  of  them  are  dispeptics,  for  such 
fasts  as  these  would  kill  them  outright. 

But  as  to  the  single  meal  per  diem.  Is  there  no  re- 
medy for  such  a  serious  affair  as  that?  Let  us  see.  Till 
about  the  year  1200,  the  Latin  church  enforced  the  ne- 
cessity of  eating  only  once— and  that  after  vespers-— in 
other  words,  towards  night.  As  to  the  Greeks,  from  the 
sixth  century,  they  had  dined  at  mid-day,  and  taken  a 
collation  of  fruits  and  herbs  at  night.  In  the  thirteenth 
century  the  Latins  began  to  indulge  themselves  in  a  few 
conserves  to  strengthen  the  stomach  during  the  day---and 
to  take  a  collation  also  at  night.  This  word  is  borrowed 
from  the  life  of  the  cloister— -where  the  deceitful  heart, 
above  all  places,  seems  to  learn  the  art  of  calling  "evil, 
good— and  good,  evil."  After  supper  the  religious  pro- 
fessed—had in  many  instances  a  rule  to  gather  themselves 
together,  for  the  reading  together  in  public  of  such  things 
as  their  superiors  prescribed;  and  especially  the  Confer- 
ences of  the  holy  fathers,  called  in  Latin  Collationes. 
After  the  reading— -came  the  drinking,  on  fast  days,  of  a 
little  wine— -a  very  little;-. -and  this  was  the  real  collation! 
So  far,  so  good.  One  meal  per  day-— and  that  very  late 
-—nominally  stood,  as  the  rule.  But  that  from  being 
scant  and  coarse,  had  long  become,  as  we  have  shown, 
generous  and  immense.     And  now  we   find,  how  it  be- 


AND   PRESENT    STATE. 

came  gradually  flanked  before  with  cojiserves  and  behind 
with  collations.  Sweet  meats  and  wine,  ire  not  general- 
ly considered  a  very  meagre  dirt. 

The  next  step,  was  if  possible  a  still  more  cunning  and 
complete  alleviation  of  all  the  horrors  which  habitual 
self-indulgence  would  experience,  under  a  forty  days 
period  of  temperance;---fasting  being  any  longer  out  of 
the  question.  This  was  a  contrivance  to  put  things  for- 
ward, so  that  the  chief  meal  of  the  day  should  not  be 
near  the  close  of  it,  and  therefore  so  many  previous  hour* 
of  the  morning  not  be  lost  on  mere  conserves.  Yet  the  thing 
was  difficult  because  it  was  established  like  the  immove- 
able hills,  that  the  meal  must  be  after  vespers— and  vespers 
after  7iones — which  from  time  immemorial,  were  respec- 
tively at  sun-set  and  three  hours  after  mid-day.  The 
matter  came  about  thus:  they  who  could  not  attend  the 
celebration  of  the  udivine  office" — nor  observe  the  ca- 
nonical hours,  could  hear  the  bells  as  they  sounded  for 
them,  and  could  regulate  their  meals  during  lent  thereby. 
And  if  men  cannot  fast  with  the  church — it  is  nearly  as 
good  to  feast  by  its  rule.  Thus  the  hour  of  afternoon 
service  became  the  signal  for  eating;  and  the  practice  be- 
came universal — not  to  eat  dinner — that  would  be  horri- 
ble— but  to  advance  supper  three  hours!  That  is,  to 
sound  ■'jf  the  "divine  office"  at  three  o'clock  in  the  af- 
ternoon, being  the  regular  hour  for  nones',  to  celebrate  mass 
immediately  afterwards;  and  vespers  directly  after  mass: 
and  supper  directly  after  vespers.  This  process  brough: 
the  supper  on  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  instead 
of  at  seven  or  eight. 

This  idea  once  struck  out,  smoothed  all  before  it.  The 
emperor  Charlemagne  was  a  quick  witted  as  well  as  a 
strong  fisted  chap,  and  in  his  religious  sentiments  full 
half  a  Protestant.  He  preferred  three  o'clock  for  his 
dining  hour;  and  therefore  mass  was  said  at  two,  and 
vespers  and  supper  came  immediately  after — still  eating 
after  sunset,  but  advancing  the  hour  of  sunset!  The 
monkish  historians  excuse  the  emperor  for  this  trespass 
on  the  sun — by  saying  that  as  he  was  served  at  table  by 
the  sovereigns  whom  he  had  subdued,— who  afterwards 
16* 


186  LENT— ITS  CURIOUS  HISTORY, 

sat  clown  and  were  served  in  their  turn  by  counts  and 
earls — and  they  by  inferior  dignitaries — through  a  long 
series;  if  the  emperor  had  not  eaten  till  after  the  regular 
sunset— -the  last  of  his  serving-men  could  not  have  eaten 
before  midnight.  It  was  far  more  reasonable  that  the 
sun  should  set  a  few  hours  sooner  than  usual,  during 
lent,  than  that  the  emperor's  household  should  change 
either  their  hours  or  their  habits. 

If  the  matter  had  stopt  here,  the  sun  would  probably 
have  put  up  with  the  arrangement;  and  all  things  con- 
sidered, would  have  got  off  on  better  terms  than  any 
other  entity  that  ever  had  to  do  with  her  of  Babylon 
But  things  did  not  stop  here,  and  requirements  were  made 
and  continue  to  be  made  of  the  sun,  which  are  hardly 
to  be  considered  reasonable  by  any  candid  person.  In 
the  tenth  century  the  custom  of  eating  after  sun-down, 
at  the  hour  of  three  P.  M.  (nones)— was  universal 
throughout  Italy;  wdiere  they  commenced  the  "office  of 
none"  during  lent,  about  noon,  following  it  with  mass, 
vespers  and  gluttony.  It  was  not  before  the  twelfth 
century  that  this  practice  was  fully  established  in  France, 
Before  the  year  1500— -the  hour  of  supper  had  been  in- 
sensibly advanced  to  mid-day!  And  then  nones,  or  three 
P.  M.  came  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  and  res- 
perSy  or  sunset,  at  least  an  hour  before  the  sun  reached 
the  meridian!!  Thus  stands  the  matter  to  the  present 
hour:  and  the  world  will  be  so  good  as  to  remember,  that 
during  lent,  the  sun  sets  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  of  it,  for  the  acts,  reasonings, 
and  declarations  of  the  infallible  church,  are  express  to 
the  point.  Nor  is  the  proposition,  though  rather  start- 
ling at  first,  at  all  harder  to  receive,  than  fifty  others  put 
forth  on  the  very  same  authority.  As  for  example— that 
the  soul,  body,  blood  and  Divinity  of  Christ,  whole  and 
entire,  is  contained  in  every  particle  of  the  consecrated 
bread  and  wine.  That  is,  that  ihere  are  a  thousand  mil- 
lions of  Gods  in  an  inch  square  of  cake;  that  a  priest  by 
saying  uhoc  est  corpus"  can  create  Gods,  ad  libitum;  and 
that  every  communicant  eats  them  by  myriads. — Down, 
with  the  sun,  for  us;  it  is  far  more  credible  than  most  of 
the  capital  doctrines  of  popery. 


AND  PRESENT  STATE.  187 

Now  all  things  considered,  lent  is  not  so  formidable  an 
affair.  Here  are  co?iservcs  to  strengthen  the  stomach--- 
just  at  will:  here  are  eggs,  butter,  cheese,  milk,  cream, 
all  kinds  of  fruits,  all  sorts  of  vegetables;  and  here  are 
all  kinds  of  fish,  embracing  oysters,  lobsters,  terrapin<, 
green  turtles,  and  the  innumerable  tribes  of  things  that 
live  wholly  or  chiefly  in  the  water.  These  are  the 
undisputed  property  of  the  most  rigid  and  abstemious 
Papist  during  all  lent,  at  least  once  every  day,  in  quanti- 
ties to  be  decided  by  his  personal  capacity.  Then  there 
is  a  multitude  of  other  things,  about  which  the  church  is 
not  quite  certain— -and  which  may  be  eaten  or  let  alone; 
and  then  other  immense  classes  which  are  maigrt  or  not, 
and  so  admitted  or  not  according  to  circumstances — such 
for  example,  as  the  time  it  takes  the  gravy  to  get  cold — 
&c.  fee.,  which  also,  the  operator  must  settle,  or  get  his 
confessor  to  settle  for  him,  as  the  cases  occur.  Then  to 
finish  the  day — (as  the  main  meal  can  betaken  any  time 
after  vespers,  and  vespers  can  be  said  at  any  time)  — 
—it  is  to  be  remembered---that  the  collation ,  as  to  length, 
breadth,  and  thickness,  is  entirely  an  open  question. 
This  is  the  state  of  the  case  for  those  who  pretend  to 
keep  lent  regularly.  But  there  are  many  alleviations 
even  to  this  abundant  provision.  The  infirm  are  not  ex- 
pected to  keep  lent.  Nurses  and  pregnant  women  are 
not  required  to  do  it.  No  one  under  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  nor  above  sixty,  is  bound  to  keep  lent;  nor  are  any 
of  any  age  who  live  by  their  daily  work.  To  all  this 
add,  the  annual  and  now  stated  dispensation  of  the 
pope  allowing  to  all  the  faithful,  the  privilege  of  meat 
(which  seems  to  be  the  only  forbidden  thing)  two  or  three 
days  in  the  week;  and  the  standing  power  to  sell  dispen- 
sations from  all  parts  of  the  fast,  to  all  who  will  pay  for 
them;  and  the  idea  of  the  eating  department— of  a.  Papal 
fast  will  be  fully  before  the  mind. 

It  is  not  easy  to  decide  whether  it  would  be  more  ap- 
propriate to  mock  or  to  weep  over  this  exhibition  of 
hypocritical  sensuality,  and  childish  self-delusion.  Why, 
this  fast  is  absolute  luxury,  compared  with  the  habitual 
state  of  nine-tenths  of  the  human  race,  from  the  found- 
ation of  the  world;  and  yet,  it  is  held  up  before  the  world 
as  a  period  of  deep  mortification,  and  before  God  aa  a 


188  LENT— -IT!   CURIOUS  HISTORY,  &C. 

ground  of  justification  and  acceptance,  on  account  of  its 
extreme  severity.  We  verily  believe,  that  any  man  of 
temperate  habits  who  would  faithfully  keep  one  lent,  as 
the  papal  monarch  would  not  only  allow  but  commend 
him  for  keeping  it,  would  encounter  serious  risk  of  a 
surfeit;  if  not  of  radical  derangement  of  his  health,  by 
the  excesses  of  the  table.  And  this  is  precisely  the  way 
in  which  most  papists  who  can  afford  it,  keep  lent.  It 
is  with  them  a  period  of  excessive  indulgence,  far  more 
frequently  than  of  any,  the  least,  real  abstinence;  and 
fasting,  as  applied  to  their  lent,  is  mere  mockery. 

Formerly,  says  the  father  Thomas  sin,  continence, 
abstinence  from  gaming,  from  public  amusements,  and 
from  litigation,  were  enjoined  during  lent.  As  the  in 
iunction  had  no  effect,  and  they  who  gave  it  never 
thought  of  obeying  it — it  was,  perhaps,  as  well  to  omit 
the  repetition  of  it.  But  what  a  religion  is  that,  in  which 
conformity  to  the  world,  mutual  contentions,  gambling, 
and  incontinence,  were  always  allowed,  except  for  forty 
days  of  each  year;  and  latterly  are  hardly  rohibited,  even 
during  lent ! 

It  is  extremely  remarkable,  that  the  Bible  should  have 
designated  with  the  most  exact  and  unerring  precision 
— the  apostate  church  of  Rome,  by  every  one  of  its  char- 
acteristics, down  to  the  most  minute.  As  in  this  case, 
by  the  singular  characteristic  of  its  pretended  fasts. — 
These  are  the  marks  of  the  apostacy  of  the  "latter  times," 
recorded  in  \st  Tim.  iv.  1 — 6.  A  departure  from  the 
faith;  giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits,  and  doctrines  of 
devils;  speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy;  (oh !  how  illustrated 
in  the  present  subject;)  having  consciences  seared;  for- 
bidding to  marry;  and  commanding  to  abstain  from 
meats  ! — Now  we  search  in  vain  for  any  thing  absolute- 
ly  forbidden  to  be  eaten  during  lent,  but  meal!  Fish  is 
permitted;  fowl  is  disputed  about;  flesh  alone  is  forbidden: 
— it  can  be  eaten  only  by  dispensation  !  And  upon  this 
minute  but  fatal  mark,  the  Eternal  Spirit  fixes  its  inefface- 
able malediction  !  Yea,  he  makes  the  putting  of  our 
"brethren  in  remembrance"  thereof,  one  evidence  that 
we  ourselves,  are  "good  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ!" — 
Beloved  Christian  brethren,  we  have  in  this,  discharged 


"the  big  beggar-man."  189 

our  conscience  and  our  duty.  Will  you  credit  our  re- 
port— and  help  our  labours  ?  Unhappy,  deluded  fellow- 
men — we  lay  before  you  this  necessary,  though  it  may  be 

unpalatable  evidence,  that  your  hopes  arc  founded  on 
nothing  better  than  sand  !  Will  you  receive  the  admo- 
nition— cast  your  idols  to  the  moles  and  bats — and  live 
by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God? 


NUMBER    XX. 

"the   big  beggar-man." 

This  appellation  has  been  given  to  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell,  by  his  political  opponents  in  great  Britain,  and 
like  many  other  nick-names,  it  fit  so  exactly,  that  it  has 
stuck  like  a  san  bemto.  For  above  twenty  years,  O'Cox- 
nell  has  been  in  the  receipt  of  a  princely  revenue, 
wrung  by  the  most  inflammatory  and  exciting  appeals, 
from  the  poorest  peasantry  in  Europe.  Think  of  forty 
thousand  sterling  a  year,  dragged  out  of  the  starving 
population  of  Ireland,  in  sums  varying  from  a  half-pen- 
ny, to  a  shilling,  at  a  time  ! — It  presents  in  the  strongest 
light,  a  picture  of  national  devotedness, —  sported  with 
and  abused  by  the  vilest,  most  selfish,  and  most  detesta- 
ble individual  baseness.-— Poor  Ireland  !  Is  she  doomed 
forever,  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  pitiless  enemies,  or  faith- 
less and  unworthy  friends? 

Mr.  O'Connell's  position  and  enormous  power,  ren- 
der him  an  object  of  curiosity  at  least,— -to  all  mankind  ; 
but  when  reference  is  had  to  his  relations  and  feelings, 
towards  the  United  States,  and  his  capacity  to  do  us 
damage,  it  becomes  important  to  us  to  understand  and 
appreciate  him  distinctly.  His  influence  over  the  Irish 
members  of  parliament  is  such,  and  the  parties  in  the 
House  of  Commons  are  so  nearly  balanced,that  this  indi  vi- 


190 

dual  has  had  it  absolutely  in  his  power,  since  the  passage 
of  the  Reform  Bill  in  1831— to  change  the  British  Gov- 
ernment at  any  moment  he  pleased;  while,  nothing  but 
his  command  has  been  wanting,  for  the  last  ten  years,  to 
excite  a  civil  and  religious  war  in  Ireland,  and  arm  the 
entire  papal  population  of  the  three  kingdoms  in  a  death 
struggle  for  supremacy.  His  influence  upon  the  people 
of  this  country  is,  first,  indirect;  that  is  his  influence  in 
shaping  the  policy  and  giving  tone  to  the  feelings  of  the 
British  Cabinet,  and  in  changing  that  cabinet  at  will;  and 
in  modifying  the  relations  and  conduct  of  all  papal  states 
to  us,  by  his  influence  upon  them,  as  the  leading  papist 
of  Britain.  But  secondly,  his  influence  to  do  us  damage  is 
direct;  first,  by  its  exercise  upon  the  entire  mass  of  our 
papal  population,  secondly  upon  the  Irish  ecclesiastics 
and  papists  settled  in  this  country,  and  thirdly  upon  the 
abolitionists  of  the  U.  S.;  and  all  who  have  paid  any  at- 
tention to  the  progress  of  affairs,  know  that  he  has  all 
these  interests,  either  in  humble  subservency,  or  close 
league  with  him. 

Let  us  then,  attend  for  a  moment  to  some  of  the  say- 
ings and  doings  of  the  Big  Beggar-Man,  that  we  may 
have  a  clear  idea  of  what  he  is,  how  he  feels  towards  us, 
and  by  what  means  he  proposes  to  act  upon  us. 

The  first  extract  which  follows,  is  taken  from  the 
London  Patriot  of  Nov.  27,  1837.  It  is  part  of  a  speech 
delivered  by  O'Connell  in  Exeter  Hall,  on  the  23d  of  the 
same  month,  at  a  great  meeting  of  u  anti-slavery  dele- 
gates from  all  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom."  So  much 
only  is  quoted,  as  relates  to  this  country,  indeed  not  the 
whole  of  that. 

Remember  you  have  only  so  cast  your  eyes  beyond  the  American 
waves,  and  see  what  is  about  to  take  place  there.  Behold  those  pre- 
tended suns  of  freedom,  those  who  declared  that  all  persons  were  equal 
in  the  presence  of  God,  that  every  man  had  an  inalienable  right  to  liber- 
ty— and  proclaiming  it,  too,  in  the  name  of  God — behold  them  assever- 
ating it  in  the  name  of  honour,  their  paltry  honour.  (Loud  cheer6.) — 
They  are  at  this  moment  organising  new  slave  states.  Remember  that 
-another  country  has  been  committed  to  slave-holders.  They  have  seized 
upon  the  territory  of  Texas,  taking  it  from  the  Mexicans,  the  Mexicans 
having  abolished  slavery  without  apprenticeship.  (Loud  cheers.)  Re- 
member that  they  have  stolen,  cheated,  swindled,  robbed  a  country,  for 
the  horrible  purpose  of  continuing  it  in  slavery.  (Hear,  hear,  and  criei 
of  "Shame.")     Remember  that  there  is  a  treaty  now  on  foot,  in  coa- 


"the  big  beggar-man. m  191 

templation,  at  least,  and  only   postponed  between   the  President  of  the 
United  States  and  these  cruel   ruffians,  till  this   robbery  of  Texas  from 
Mexico  can   be  completed.     Oh  !   raise    the   voice    of  humanity    against 
these  republicans,  who  have  sentiments  of  pride  and  feelings  of  self-ex- 
altation.     (Cheers  )      Let  us  tell  these  republicans,  that  inn;  cad  of  stand- 
ing the  highest  in  the  scale  of  humanity,  they  are  the  basest  of  the  base, 
and  the  vilest  of  the  vile.      (Immense  cheers,  waving  of  hats,  and  cries 
of  "Hurrah.")     There  is  a  community  of  sentiment  all  over  the  world, 
and  on  the  wings  of  the  press,  whatever  so   humble  and    insignificant  an 
individual  as  myself  addresses  to  you  will  be  borne  across  the  waves  of 
the  Atlantic-— it  will  go  up  the  Missouri,  it  will  be  wafted  along  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  it  will  reach  the  infernal  Texas  itself.      (Immense 
cheers.)     And  though  the  Pandemonium  may  seream  at  the  sound,  yet 
they  shall  suffer  from  the  lash  of  human  indignation  applied  to  their  hor- 
rible crimes.     (Loud  cheers  )      If  they  be  not  arrested  in  their  career  of 
guilt,  four  new  slave-states   will   flow  from  it,  and  from  Texas  to  the 
Mississippi  will  be  filled  with  slaves.     (Cheers.)     O  hideous  breeders  of 
human  beings   for  slavery!     (Cheers.)     Such  are  the  horrors  of  that 
system  in  the  American  States,  that  it  is  impossible  in  this  presence  to  de- 
scribe them,  and  it  almost  pollutes  the  mind  to  think  of  them.      Should 
the  measures  now   contemplated   by  the  Americans  be   accomplished, 
these  horrors  will  be   increased   fourfold.     Every   commandment   of  the 
living  God  is  to  be  trampled  underfoot  by  mammon,  and  the  human  soul 
is  to   be  degraded  worse   than   the   degradation   of  the   human  body. — 
(Cheers.)     Expect  nothing  from  their  generosity.     I  cannot  restrain  my- 
self.     (Cheers.)     *     *     *     *     Oh,  cry  out  shame,   and  let  the  cry  be 
heatd  across  the  waves  of  the  mighty  ocean!     We  are  the  teachers  of 
humanity,  the  friends  of  humanity.     What  does  it  signify  to  us  that  the 
crime  is  not  committed  on  British  soil?     Wherever  it  is  committed,  we 
are  its  execrators.     (Cheers.)     The  American,  it  is  true,  boasts  that  he 
was  the  first  to  abolish  the  slave  trade  carried  on  in  foreign  vessels.     He 
was.     But  what  was  the  consequence?     The  man  who  abolished  it,  made 
his  slaves  at  home  of  more  value  to  him,  when  he  had  stopped  the  sup- 
ply   from   abroad.      (Cheers.)     It   was  a  swindling    humanity — it  was 
worse  than  our  20  millions  scheme — it  had  the  guise  of  humanity,  but  had 
in  reality  the  spirit  of  avarice  and  oppression.     (Applause.)     Perhaps  I 
ought  to   apologise.     (Cries   of  "No,  no  ;  go   on.")     ***** 
I    thank  you   for  having  permitted  this  appeal,  but  I  thank   you  more  for 
having  joined  in  it.     (Renewed  cheers. )  Yours  is  not  a  selfish  humanity, 
confined  to  any  climate      You  join  with  me,  and  I  trust  that  the  period 
will  come  when,  if  America  does  not  redress  the  wrongs  done    to  her 
slaves,  no  civilized  man  will  feel  himself  justified  in  associating  in  private 
life  with  an  American.     (Cheers.)     You  would  not  keep  company  with 
a  pick-pocket  or   a  swindler,  a   murderer  or  a  robber.     (Laughter  and 
loud  applause.)     And  what  signifies  it  to  me  whether  they  have  murder- 
ed and   robbed   and  swindled   wholesale  an  entire  people,  a  young  and 
rising  generation,  or  in  any  other  manner. —  (Cheers.) 

This  veracious  and  gentleman-like  tirade,  was  deliver- 
ed from  a  platform  usually  consecrated  to  religious  and 
benevolent  exercises  and  efforts;  and  from  the  midst  of 
an  array  of  members  of  parliament,  baronets,  doctors  of 


192  tcTHE   BIG    BEGGAR-MAN." 

divinity  (nearly  all  doctored^  on  this  side  of  the  Atlan- 
tic)—-and  a  strong  corps  of  the  squirearchy  of  England, 
—-of  whom  near  a  hundred  are  told  by  rote  as  a  caption 
to  the  account  of  the  meeting. 

The  decided  favour  with  which  these  vulgar  falsehoods 
concerning  us  were  received,  by  the  magnates  of  the 
platform,  and  the  "British  audience"  in  the  hall— -goes 
farther  than  any  testimony  we  could  personally  bring,  to 
establish  the  truth  so  little  considered  in  this  country, 
namely,  that  a  deep-rooted  and  rancorous  hatred  of  Ameri- 
ca and  Americans,  pervades  the  entire  mass  of  the  En- 
glish nation;— mark  us,  of  the  English  nation;— we  do 
not  say  of  the  better  and  more  enlightened  portions  of  the 
Scotch  and  Irish.  There  is  a  party  in  the  eastern  section 
of  the  United  States,  whose  sentiments,  feelings,  and 
opinions,  are  the  mere  reflections  of  this  audacious  spirit 
of  English  society— just  enough  modified  to  take  off  the 
foreign  gloss.  Nay  there  are  parties-— not  one,  but  seve- 
ral. For  there  is  one  that  sympathises  so  thoroughly  with 
the  tory  and  high  church  pretensions  of  Anglicanism—- 
as  to  make  its  members  forget  often-times,  that  they  pre- 
tend to  be  Americans  and  republicans,  and  cause  them  to 
prate  about  "the  church,,'  and  "dissent"  as  glibly  as  if 
they  already  held  tithes,  church  rates,  and  pluralities  "as 
by  law  established."— And  there  is  a  second  whose 
whole  heart  is  so  engrossed  in  Englishism,  no  matter  what 
or  how  distilled,-— whether  theatrical  with  Miss  Kemble 
—or  warlike  with  Capt.  Basil  Hall,  or  infidel  wTith  Miss 
(?)  Fanny  Wright— or  man-womanish  with  Mrs.  Trolop 
—or  merely  twaddling  with  Dr.  Cox,  D.  D!  L.  L.  D!! 
—or  abolitionist  with  George  Thompson— -or  speculative 
(at  three  shillings  per  head  per  night)  with  the  honorable 
Mr.  Buckingham  M.  P.— all  else  is  immaterial,  so  that 
English  be  the  basis  of  the  gruel,  it  is  swallowed  more 
copiously  than  Dr.  Sangrado's  patients  gulped  hot  water. 
We  pray  all  these  worthies-— not  to  be  choaked  with  the 
present  dose;  remembering  it  is  rale  English— and  that 
they  have  swallowed  the  same  before.  We  beseech  our 
"O'Connell  guards"— and  "O'Connell  blues"— and  all 
that  crew  of  patriots— -to  take  courage  and  open  their 
mouths    wide.      Patriotism    is  a    small   affair;   national 


193 

honour  and  prick'  are   mere  figmentt;  and    Sfl   men   owe 
little  to  their  native  lanti — tliut  little  is  well  nigfa  nothing 
in  the  case  of  an  adopted  country.     Hut  above  all,  w< 
to  the  country— -remember  O'Connell  is  a  big  ipist; 

remember  he  is  the  organ  in  Britain  of  the  Papal  monar- 
chy; remember  he  is  the  mouth-piece  of  the  British  P  - 
pists;  remember  there  are  several  hundred  thousand 
foreign  Papists  now  dispersed  throughout  the  United 
States  who  are  capable  of  bearing  arms,  and  who  are 
absolutely  subject  to  the  foreign  priesthood  scatter- 
ed amongst  them,  holding  commissions  from  a  foreign 
potentate,  and  making  periodical  reports,  as  spies  to 
him  of  our  condition;  remember  that  the  bulk  of  that 
priesthood  are  the  countrymen  and  tormer  tools  of 
this  very  O'Connell— -and  are  thoroughly  imbued  with  his 
prejudices,  his  passions  and  his  principles.  Remember 
these  things;  for  verily  there  is  a  day  of  reckoning  to  come. 

It  would  be  well,  if  it  were  within  the  present  design, 
to  direct  the  reader's  attention  to  the  braggart  boastings, 
of  what  England  has  done  and  must  do;  and  to  the  tem- 
per with  which  the  crowd  received  these  disgusting  ebu- 
litions  of  national  vanity.  Let  America  learn  from  this 
how  to  believe  what  England  says,  respectively  of  her- 
self and  others.  Let  her  learn  to  appreciate  herself.  Let 
her  recollect  that  England  treats  all  the  world  on  the  same 
principles  here  exhibited  and  rapturously  applauded,  as 
regards  us — and  let  her  do  justice  to  other  people,  under- 
rated through  a  too  easy  credulity  of  such  billingsgate. 
Let  her  place  the  opinions  and  the  influence,  moral  and 
literary,  of  such  a  people,  where  they  deserve  to  be 
placed — that  is  the  very  lowest  of  all  in  the  scale;  and  by 
an  enlightened  public  sentiment,  frown  down  the  Ameri- 
can toad-eaters  who  regulate  themselves  after  such  a 
model. 

We  fear  it  will  hardly  appear  credible,  that  on  the  very 
occasion  and  platform  from  which  the  foregoing  extract 
was  bellowed  forth  against  us  and  in  praise  of  England; 
the  most  conclusive  proof  was  furnished  that  a  state  of 
things  far  more  horrible  than  ever  did  or  ever  could  exist 
in  any  part  of  the  United  States---at  that  very  moment 
existed,  yea  had  been  created,  in  immense  portions  of  the 
17 


194  UTHE   BIG  BEGCAR-MAfl^? 

British  empire,  by  the  policy  of  the  government  and 
direct  force  of  positive  law.  Proof  for  example  thai 
many  of  the  British  possessions,  slaves  confined  in  jail 
were  well  nigh  starved;  that  females  were;  whipped  to 
death — and  false  verdicts  sworn  to;  that  slaves  when  re- 
gularly at  work,  were  often  put  on  half  allowance  of  food; 
that  cruel,  novel,  and  frightful  punishments  were  indicted 
publicly  on  the  aged  and  the  sick;  that  in  every  con- 
ceiveable  way,  those  called  apprentices,  (and  of  whose 
liberation  such  lofty  talk  has  gone  out  through  all  the 
abolition  press  of  this  country,)  were  cheated,  deceived, 
defrauded,  oppressed,  starved,  beaten,  and  killed  out- 
right. Yet  to  all  these  points  the  proof  was  complete — 
at  the  very  moment  when  the  unblushing  insolence  we 
have  quoted  was  uttered  by  O'ConnelL  Upon  the  single 
subject  of  the  flogging — by  law  observe,  of  unhappy 
freemen  liberated  (!)  in  the  British  West  Indies,  we  take 
the  following  table,  from  a  speech  of  Mr.  Bowley,  of 
Gloucester,  made  a  little  while  before  O'Connell's. 

"CORPORAL,  PUNISHMENTS  WHICH  CAN  BE  INFLICTED  ON  AP- 
PRENTICED LABOURERS  UNDER  THE  EXISTING  LAW  IN  THE 
ISLAND  OF    JAMAICA. 

Absence  for  two  days  in  a  fortnight          -         -         -  20  Lashes. 

Refusing  or  neglecting  labour  20 

Wilful  negligence — damaging  property     -         -         -  20 

Drunkenness — first  offence           -  20 

Frivolous  complaints      ------  20 

Absence  for  three  successive  days  30 

Wandering  beyond  plantation  without  leave               -  30 

Absence  for  one  week         -  39 
Insolence     --------39 

Keeping  fire  arms,  gunpowder,  &c.  39 
Insubordination    -------39 

Drunkenness,  second  offence  in  the  same  month     -  49 

Endangering  property  by  careless  use  of  fire     -         -  50 

111  using  of  cattle       ------  50 

Injuring  property             _-__--  50 

Destroying  property            -----  50 

Combined  resistance      ------  50 

Riotous  assemblage                             -        -        -  60 

Attempting  to  quit  the  island             -         -         -         -  50 

Indolence           -------  50 

Neglect  of  work             -----         _  50 

Improper  performance  of  work  50 
Assisting  apprentice  to  quit  the  island       -          -  50 
Establishing  a  distinct  sommunity  50 
Tor  inferior  misdemeanours,  whether  against  employ- 
ers or  any  other  persons      -         -         -         -         -  50 


l*frHE   BIG    BEGGAR-MAN    °  195 

Under  the  slavery  law  there  was  no  domestic  offence  punishable  with 
more  than  thirty-nine  lasher,  but  under  the  apprenticeship  s\.>tem  here  M  a 
list  of  thirteen  distinct  oile-nces  punishable   by  fifty  lashd 

Letnoone  imagine  that  this  ample  catalogue  ofoffen- 
slept  in  humane forgetfolness— in  the  hands  ofth 

who    had    already   received    twenty   millions    sterling — 
(equal  to  about  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars)  — in  lieu 

of  all  the  rights  of  property  in   their  slaves;    who    w  ■ 
thenceforth — as  our  abolitionists  assert,  freemen.     Alas! 
for  such  freedom!      For  says  uBig  Beggar  Mem"  in  tin- 
very  speech  already  quoted  from; 

"I  have  had  a  melancholy  account  of  the  number  who  have  been  pun- 
ished and  flogged  under  the  new  system.  In  Jamaica,  there  are  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty  thousand  o{  these  persons  now  called  apprentices — it  is  a 
wrong  word,  better  call  them  slaves  at  once — it  is  a  shorter  word,  it  saves 
time,  an!  it  has  another  recommendation,  it  is  more  accurate.  How 
many  of  th^**  have  been  punished  under  the  law  of  liberty:  Upwards  of 
thirty-live  •  >us  md  males,  and  upwards  of  twenty-two  thousand  females 
— (Hear,  hear) — making  a  total  of  fifty -eight  thousand,  four  hundred  and 
seventeen,  being  one  out  of  every  five.  (Hear,  hear.)  And  that  in  what 
period?  In  twenty-two  months.  No  less  than  two  hundred  and  forty 
two  thousand,  three  hundred  and  eleven  lashes  were  bestowed  under  this 
system  of  freedom. 

"In  point  of  law  and  of  plain  common  sense,  the  females  under  the  ap- 
prenticeship system  could  not  be  flogged  because  white  persons  could  net 
be  flogged  under  the  apprenticeship  law  ;  and  it  was  only  left  open  to  flog 
apprentices  for  the  same  crimes  that  white  persons  might  commit.  They 
were  intended  to  be  put  upon  the  same  footing.  True,  the  females  are 
not  ordered  to  be  flogged — they  are  sent  to  the  treadmill,  but  there  is  a 
man  who  flogs  them  there  if  they  do  not  dance,  as  they  call  it,  accord- 
ing to  his  pleasure.  The  poor  creatures  there  receive  the  most  brutal 
treatment  There  is  only  one  case  with  which  I  will  trouble  you,  A 
letter  has  been  received  from  a  Baptist  missionary  at  Falmouth,  which 
states  that  a  respectable  female,  one  of  the  members  of  his  communion, 
was  sent  to  the  workhouse  for  two  weeks — for  what  do  vou  think?  for 
taking  Morison's  pills.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  Really  it  seems  ludi- 
crous. The  committal  is  dated  in  the  present  year,  and  was  issued  by 
special  justice  Price.  It  was  written  upon  it,  "For  rejecting  medicine, 
and  taking  nostrums."  There  was  endorsed  upon  the  committal,  "Very 
insubordinate.*'  For  taking  Morison's  pills  she  was  to  be  put  upon  the 
treadmill  twenty  minutes  daily  for  a  fortnight.  There  is  no  man  in  this 
country  brutal  enough  to  place  any  female  upon  the  treadmill — (Cheers) 
— it  is  a  punishment  reserved  for  rurfians  of  the  male  sex.  In  Jamaica 
it  seems  that  an  unfortunate  woman,  for  imagining  that  she  could  be 
cured  by  a  quack  medicine — an  imagination  which  is  entertained  by 
many  respectable  people  in  this  country — is  sent  for  a  fortnight  to  the 
work  house,  to  be  put  on  the  treadmill  twenty  minutes  daily.  (Hear, 
bear,  hear.)" 

\\  e  know  not  how  we  could  more  appropriately  con 
elude  this  article,-- -or  how  convey  to  our  readers  more 


19G 


"the  big  begger-max." 


vividly  a  picture  of  the  recklessness,  tergiversation,  and 
moral  worthlessness  of  this  prince  of  ruffians  and  black* 
guards— than  by  laying  before  them  the  following  brief 

synopsis  of  O'Connell  against  O'Connell.  It  u  taken 
from  the  London  Record,  of  December  7,  1837,  where 
it  is  credited  to  Frazer's  Magazine. 


OCONNELL    HOT. 

1.  "  Lord  Brougham  is  the  pride 
of  England." — Speech  in  Dublin, 
Dec.  1830. 

2.  "My  excellent  friend,  Mr. 
Raphael  •" — Address  to  the  Elec- 
tors of  Carlow,  1835. 

3.  "  Mr.  Guinness  is  a  liberal 
Protestant  of  high  character  and  res- 
pectability."  Mr.     O'ConneWs 

Speech    concerning    the   Dublin 
election  of  1832. 

4.  "  The  consistent  and  liberal 
Earl  Grey."— June,  1830. 

5.  "  Sir  Charles  Coote,  one  of  the 
best  men  and  landlords  in  Ireland." 
— Mr.  O'Connell  at  the  Catholic 
Associatioji,  1825. 

6.  "  I  enclose  you  the  ballot  of 
this  morning.  Nothing  can  be  bet- 
ter. Yours,  &c,  Dan.  O'Con- 
nell."  Letter     to     Raphael, 

June  18,  1835. 

7.  "  Honest  Jack  Lawless." — 
Speeches  up  to  1832  passi?n. 


O'CONNELL    COLD. 

1.  "Buggaboo  Brougham."— Let- 
ter, dated  Aug.  24,  1833. 

2.  u  The  most  incomprehensible 
of  all  imaginable  vagabonds,  Alex- 
ander Raphael." — Letter  to  the 
Electors  of  Carlow,  A  or.  1835. 

3.  M  Do  not  drink  his  beer," — 
August,  1837. 


8.  "The  straight  forward  Mar- 
quis of  Downshire." — Speech  at 
the  Catholic  Association,  Jan. 
1829. 

9.  "  A  former  Duke  of  York,  the 
legitimate  King  of  England,  was  de- 
throned by  the  English  Whigs,  al- 
though he  could  only  be  charged 
with  the  crime  of  proclaiming  per- 
fect liberty  of  conscience. 
A'or.,  1826,  at  Dublin. 


4,  M  There  is  another  and  a  great- 
er enemy  to  Ireland,  Earl  Grey." 
—Letter,  August  24,  1832. 

5.,  "  It  is  cruel  that  Queen's 
county  should  be  represented  by  that 
petty  curmudgeon,  r^ir  Charles 
Coote."—  Speech  at  Stradbally, 
Jan.,  1836. 

6.  M  My  opinion,  from  the  mo- 
ment the  ballot  was  struck,  was,  that 
it  was  hopeless  to  contest  the  mat- 
ter further." — Letter  to  the  Elec- 
tors of  Carlnw,  Nov.,  1835. 

7.  "Jack  is  in  the  dirt  now.*' — 
"He  has  made  an  attempt  to  get 
out  of  a  situation  into  which  he  had 
got  by  his  foul  delinquency." — 
Speech,  Jan.  2,  1832. 

8.  "  Downshire,  famous  at  all 
times  for  gross  duplicity." — Aug. 
25,  1834. 

9.  "  The  Restoration  came  next, 
and  the  son  of  him  they  had  be- 
headed was  guilty  of  most  abomina- 
ble treachery;  so  they  made  him  ab- 
dicate."—  Speech  in  Manchester, 

against    the   house  of 


-Speech  \in    1835, 
{Lords* 


'Tilt:    BIG  BEGGAR-MAX. 


197 


10.  "  .Mr.  Mahoaey  i-  up  fof  Kin- 
s.ile:  it  could  not  have  .1  batter  ro- 
tative,"— S  Yatfan- 

ri.it ion,  hlfU ,   1887. 


10.  M  He    (Mr.   O'Connell)    had 
I  lUOO  111  -  :\  i riir.  that,  iofteed 

of  being    Ireland's  pride.   Limerick 
would  be  ber  shame,  if  sin*  returned 
-  I  Mahoney. — Dectmb. 
:;.    1-32. 

11.  "  That  dotard,  Burd.tt:  n 
M  that  old  madman,  Burdett,"  fee 
Sec" — Speeeket  m  U 

"  Burdett  is  a  sort  of  incarnation 
in  our  of  the  impenitent  thief  upon  th* 
1825    cross.*' Speech    at    Stockport, 


11.  "We  never  can  be  too  grate- 
ful to  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  for  the 
manner  in  which  he  introduced  our 
Bill,  and  for  the  unwearied  exertions 
he  has  made,  and  is  maki 
cause,"' — Letter,  March 

.v  •.  is,  i-:;: 

12.  -The  Roman  Catholics  are  12.  "Hurrah  for  Repeal:  Wild 
to  my  certain  knowledge,  as  much  Irish  cry  " — Motto  of  O'Connell, 
attached  to  the  connexion  between  Letter  to  Lord  Duncannon,  1834. 
Great    Britain    and    Ireland   as   the 

Protestants  can  be'' — Evidence  of 
Mr.  O'Connell,  before  a  Commit- 
tee of  the  House  of  Commons. 
1325. 

13.  "A   better   family   than   the 
Kenmares    does    not    exist,   and    it  *Vor 
possesses  a  high  claim  to  the  praise 

of  Kerry." — Oct.  6,  1834. 

14.  "  He  was  happy  to  say,  that  14.  "  What  a  Luttrell  that  Gal- 
Mr.  Lamb  and  the  Duke  of  Devon-  way  is!  Don't  mind  such  traitors  as 
shire  would  be  opposed  in  Dungan-  John  Matthew  Gal  way! — Speech  in 
non,  by  a  gentleman  who  had  given,  August,  1834. 

in  IS 26,  the  most  powerful  aid  in 
freeing  Waterford  from  the  Beres- 
fords."  M  He  took  credit  to  himself 
for  inducing  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Gal- 
way  to  come  forward."  —  0' Con- 
nell's  Speech,  Dec.  2,  1832. 

15.  "The  noble  and  high-spirit- 
ed Lord  Londonderry."— Jan.  1329.  derrv 

16.  M  The   independent   electors       16. 
of  Kerry." — Speeches  passim. 


13. — The  tyrannical  Kenmares." 
1S34. 


15. 


"  The  frantic  Lord  London- 
'-Jfl/i.  22,  1836. 
"If  anv   man    vote   for   the 
Orange  Knight  of  Kerry , let  a  death's 
head  and  cross-bones  be  placed  over 
his  door,"  &c.  —  Speech  at  Tralee, 
during  the  election  of  1834. 
17.  "Lord  Anglesea  is  Ireland's       17.   "Anglesea 's  a  Welshman;" 
friend." — Speech  at  the   Catholic  "  ten-gun  brig  Anglesea;"    "  Alge- 
Association,  Ann.   1828.  rine  Anglesea,"  &c.  &c. — Speech- 

es passim  during  1831  and  1832. 
IS.     "The     bone-grubber    Cob-       18.  "My   excellent   friend,    Mr. 
bett;"     "  the    venal    Cobbett."—  Cobbett."— Speech  at  the  O' Con- 
Speeches  during  1825.  tnell  dinner  to  Cobbett,  in  1834. 

What  a  detestable  ruffian!    What  a  graceless  turncoat! 
What  a  compound  of  fawning  Tulgarity,  braggart  inso- 
lence, and  shameless  lving! 
17#  :     ° 


198  VOCATION   AND   PREACHING 

This  is,  par  excellence,  the  papal  statesman  of  the  day! 
This  is  the  grand  mouth  piece  of  the  "great  Irish  na- 
tion"! This  is  the  champion  of  the  only  true  church  and 
of  universal  civilization!  Brother  of  the  sun,  father  of  the 
moon,  pet  of  John  Bull,  son  of  the  pope,  brother  of  the 
priests,  ally  of  the  abolitionists!— 

And  whether  shall  we  more  deserve  the  pit v  or  the 
scorn  of  all  coming  ages,  if  such  an  influence,  originating 
from  such  a  source,  propagated  through  such  channels, 
and  exerted  for  such  ends,— is  allowed  to  have  its  vile 
and  audacious  course,  and  to  effect  its  horrible  objects  ? 


NUMBER    XXI. 

VOCATION  AND  PREACHING  OF  ARCHBISHOP  ECCLESTON. 

The  Roman  ministers  of  religion,  are  not  set  apart  to 
preach,  but  to  sacrifice.  Their  system  proposes  to  save 
men  by  ordinances,  and  not  through  the  truth,  taught  of 
God,  and  received  in  the  enlightened  love  of  it.  This 
is  a  characteristic  and  all-pervading  distinction,  between 
the  religion  of  God  and  that  of  the  pope;  and  between 
the  ministers  of  one  and  the  other.  The  ministers  of 
God  teach  the  people ;  this  is  their  mission,  their  work, 
their  vocation:— "teach  all  nations"  is  our  great  and  di- 
vine warrant.  The  ministers  of  the  pope,  sacrifice  for 
the  people;  this  is  their  faculty,  their  ordained  office; 
"receive  power  to  sacrifice,  for  ilic  living  and  the  dead," 
is  their  word  of  induction. 

It  is  most  natural  therefore,  that  we  never  offer  any 
sacrifices;  above  all,  we  never  pretend  to  repeat  the  cru- 
cifixion and  to  sacrifice  again  the  Lord  of  life.  It  is 
equally  natural,  that  they  should  teach  men  nothing;  and 
least  of  all,  that  they  should  make  public  instruction  in 
vital  godliness,  the  end  of  their  ministrations. 


OF  ARCHBISHOP   ECCLESTON'.  199 

In  countries  truly  papal,  there  is  no  regular  preaching 
of  the  priests.  During  most  of  the  year3  none  of  the 
priests, — not  one,  preaches  at  all:  and  during  their  period 

of  riot  and  excess,  called  lent,  when  they  fast  on  the  lux- 
uries of  the  earth,  a  very  few  specially  set  off  for  this  ser- 
vice, deliver  discourses  to  the  public,  about  every  thing 
but  grace  and  truth.  In  all  countries  the  bulk  of  the  pa- 
pal priesthood,  are  utterly  incapable  of  preaching;  thou- 
sands of  them  never  attempted  it  in  their  lives;  and  very 
few  of  those  who  do,  are  equal  to  the  poorest  preachers 
in  the  poorest  Protestant  sects.  In  general,  the  higher 
the  dignitary  the  poorer  the  preacher,  and  the  less  he 
pretends  to  speak  in  public. 

A  very  strong  confirmation  of  these  remarks  is  to  be 
found  in  the  condition  of  the  papal  clergy  in  the  United 
States.  There  is  not  one  tolerable  public  speaker 
amongst  them;  and  of  a  dozen  or  fifteen  bishops,  hardly 
above  three  ever  attempt  to  preach.  Of  these,  umy  Lord 
Purcell"  and  u  f.  John,  Bishop"  alone  make  any  serious 
pretensions.  The  former  we  apprehend,  will  be  apt  to 
consider  the  laurels  won  in  controversy  with  Mr.  Camp- 
bell, enough  for  one  "servant  of  the  servants  of  God:" 
unless  indeed  he  condescends  to  appear  before  the  vulgar 
crowd  once  more,  to  give  them  a  new  version  of  Lagori, 
or  a  further  exposition  of  his  sentiments  on  the  subject  of 
public  schools. — Poor  Bishop  England,  ought  to  keep  in 
practice  somewhat  more  regularly — or  he  will  forget  how 
to  speak  English,  and  spoil  his  attitudes  by  disuse.  The 
last  time  we  heard  him, — he  could  hardly  lap  his  arms 
over  his  chest,  in  his  favourite  mimickery  of  the  posture 
of  Napoleon,  (though  he  had  this  excuse  for  awkward- 
ness and  obesity,  that  lent  was  just  over;)  and  his  enun- 
ciation was  so  thick,  and  so  Milesian  that  we  had  diffi- 
culty in  following  him. 

We  are  happy  to  be  informed  that  Mr.  Eccleston,  who 
honours  our  good  city  with  his  habitual  abode,  has  some 
thoughts  of  turning  out  orator.  The  following  letter 
will  be  joyfully  read  by  the  archbishop's  Protestant 
friends;  for  we  have  generally  heard  him  commended  for 
much  better  skill  in  a  dinner  than  a  sermon,  and  far 
more  elegant  taste  in  fasting,  than  in  discoursing  to  the 
people. 


200  VOCATION    AND  PREACHING 

As  to  the  sample  of  a  sermon  from  him,  furnished  us 
below,  there  is  nothing  to  be  said.  The  doctrine  is  ste- 
reotype papal:  you  wiD  hear  it  from  all  the  draymen  of 
their  party  about  town.  We  must  make  allowance, 
however,  for  a  beginner:  and  no  doubt,  when  the  weath- 
er gets  cooler  and  the  worthy  gentleman  ventures  a  lew 
more  times,  in  the  villages  about,  he  maybe  able  to  make 
a  pretty  fair  debut  in  his  spacious  cathedral.  This  IS 
greatly  to  be  desired;  for  really  the  people  who  pretend 
to  preach  there,  are  a  great  scandal  to  holy  mother,  and 
a  terrible  bore  to  the  hearers. 

We  are  the  more  encouraged  about  the  archbishop,  as 
we  happen  to  know,  by  report,  on  undeniable  evidence 
however,  the  nature  of  his  vocation  to  the  ministry. — 
And  by  wray  of  encouraging  his  present  efforts,  we  wil) 
tell  the  story,  to  his  praise.  We  had  it  from  the  mouth 
of  him  who  was  actor  in  the  scene. 

The  archbishop  wras  born  and  raised  an  Episcopalian; 
as  was  his  immed:ate  predecessor.  When  just  grown 
up,  his  wish  and  purpose  was  to  enter  the  army;  and  he 
and  the  individual  who  told  us  this  story,  applied  for  ca- 
dets' warrants,  for  the  military  academy  at  West  Point. 
"We  stood,"  said  our  informant,  "at  the  corner  of  Gay 
and  Baltimore  streets,  anxiously  looking  to  see  the  carri- 
age of  Mr.  Harper  who  was  then  in  Congress  drive  up  to 
his  door.  It  came.  I  was  deputed  to  call  on  him,  and 
ascertain  the  success  of  our  application;  while  Eccleston 
waited  my  return  at  the  street  corner.  The  quota  of  ca- 
dets for  Maryland  wras  full;  but  we  were  told,  we  could 
get  midshipmen's  warrants  in  the  navy." — This  was  re- 
ported to  the  embryo  soldier;  and  the  two  young  men  con- 
sulted a  moment  and  pondered  in  deep  thought  in  our 
most  public  street.  "Well,"  said  he,  breaking  silence, 
and  ripping  out  an  oath, — "good  evening — I  will  turn 
priest!  !u 

Here  is  the  vocation  of  the  vicar  of  Christ  in  North 
America !  uGood  evening, — I  will  turn  priest!!" 

This  may  be  about  twenty  years  ago.  Behold  the 
fruits  of  that  divine  call  to  the  holy  ministry! 

Alas!  upon  what  slender  threads  do  our  destinies  hang! 
Upon  what  slight  and  accidental  things  do  the  tenor  of 


OF  ARCHBISHOP  ECCLESTOX.  201 

our  being  here,  and  the  issues  ofoui  ctt-rnal  interests  de- 
pend! Here  stands  a  Piolestant  boV  meditating  a  career 
of  honour  and  activity.  He  is  bid  from  you  for  twenty 
years;  and  when  the  curtain  is  drawn,  you  behold  the 
proofs  only  of  apostacy,  superstition,  luxury  and  indo- 
lence. Here  is  a  moment's  idle  conference,  at  a  street 
corner;  and  it  so  unjoints  the  soul,  that  the  loss  of  God's 
favour  here,  and  the  deep  risk  of  his  endless  curse,  spring 
therefrom!  How  true  is  that  word  of  our  Saviour,  that 
without  him  we  can  do  nothing!  How  solemn  is  that 
providence,  which  in  a  sense,  alas,  how  opposite,  leads 
us,  or  permits  us  to  wander,  through  unknown  ways! 

Romney,  Va*  August  7,  1838. 
Rev'd  Sir: — You  are  afar  from  being  unknown  to  me  by  character, 
though  I  am  an  entire  stranger  to  you,  yet  as  such  I  have  no  doubt  you 
will  comply  with  the  request  which  is  the  object  of  this  letter.  My  re- 
quest is,  that  you  would  be  so  good  as  to  send  me  by  mail,  one  copy  of 
the  Pope's  encyclical  letter,  which  I  think  you  had  published  sometime 
ago  in  Baltimore. 

One  reason  for  troubling  you  to  send  me  a  copy,  is,  that  the  Jesuit 
priests  seem  to  have  their  eyes  on  this  part  of  the  country  in  which  I  re- 
side, to  establish  one  of  their  people  traps,  called  by  them  seminaries  of 
learning.  Along  the  river  (the  soath  branch  of  the  Potomac)  lies  a  por- 
tion of  the  richest  land  perhaps  in  the  United  States,  though  small  in  ex- 
tent; but  it  has  wealth  enough  to  form  the  principal  attraction  for  those 
priests.  They  have  frequently  visited  it,  and  have  talked  of  such  an  es- 
tablishment to  be  located  in  this  section  of  country. 

Their  archbishop  Eccleston  has  been  here.  I  heard  him  preach;  and 
although  in  the  course  of  my  life,  I  have  often  been  engaged  in  contro- 
versy with  infidels  who  denied  the  truth  of  the  Bible;  yet  I  never  heard 
one  of  them,  I  think,  say  more  in  disparagement  of  that  book  than 
this  archbishop  did. 

He  said  that  the  Roman  Catholics  took  it  as  part  of  their  rule  of  faith, 
but  not  for  their  sole  rule;  that  it  was  not  sufficient  to  be  the  rule  of  any 
man's  faith;  that  no  man  by  reading  the  Bible  without  other  instructions, 
could  find  out  a  system  of  religion  on  which  to  venture  his  soul's  salva- 
tion, or  indeed  any  system  at  all.  That  the  Bible  was  a  compilation  of 
writings  made  at  different  times,  for  particular  circumstances  more  suitable 
for  the  occasion  that  called  for  them,  but  not  suitable  for  Christians  in  all 
ages  of  the  world.  That  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church 
was  superior  to  the  Bible.  That  there  was  no  evidence  on  which  to  be- 
lieve the  Bible  but  what  that  church  gave  it;  without  that  no  man  could 
have  any  evidence  of  its  truth. 

He  defended  many  of  their  abominations  to  an  extent  which  I  had  not 
anticipated;  such  as  auricular  confession,  absolution,  indulgencies,  &.c, 
I  was  shocked  and  disgusted  at  the  effrontery  of  the  man. 

You  know  that  they  are  making  great  efforts  to  propagate  their  re- 
ligion in  this  country,  and  flatter  themselves  that  they  will  succeed.     My 


202  CONJUNCTION  OF   ST.   BACCHUS 

apprehensions  are  formed  chiefly  on  that  religion  being  so  agreeable  to 
corrupt  human  nature.  Itoflers  salvation  so  cheaply  through  the  labour- 
saving  machinery  of  the  priesthood,  and  has  so  many  attractions  for  the 
bodily  senses.  I  was  for  a  long  time  anxious  to  see  some  Protestant,  or 
Protestants,  have  the  courage  and  ability  to  meet  that  arrogant  hierarchy 
in  their  strong  hold,  Baltimore;  and  I  am  highly  gratified  to  find  that  you 
so  sufficiently  supply  that  desideratum.  My  heart  is  with  you  every  blow 
you  strike. 

Iiev'd  Mr.   Breckinridge ,  Wm   Naylor. 

Baltimore. 


NUMBER    XXII. 

CONJUNCTION  OF   ST.   BACCHUS  AND   ST.   IGNATIUS. 

We  suppose  our  annual  notice  of  the  literary  gluttony 
of  the  corporation  of  Georgetown  college,  must  be  hence- 
forward omitted;  unless  indeed  we  take  special  pains, 
to  get  information  and  keep  the  run  of  their  debaucheries 
in  honour  of  the  muses  and  the  Jesuits;  strange  conjunc- 
tion and  aptly  celebrated  in  rude  and  coarse  bacchanals  ! 
For  since  we  began  to  pay  our  respects  to  this  annual 
glorification  at  the  capitol  of  the  nation,  of  the  principles 
of  those  wrhom  all  nations  abhor,— -either  the  public  press 
is  getting  shy,  or  the  revellers  are  getting  ashamed  of 
day ;  and  what  was  once  blazoned  in  all  the  glory  of 
capital  letters  and  lead  lines,  in  the  entire  daily  press 
round  about,  is  now  hid  in  thin  minion,  in  the  form  of 
an  anonymous  letter,  in  one  corner  of  an  humble  month- 
ly, hardly  more  pretending  than  our  own,  in  its  outer 
man.  In  short,  what  took  place  on  the  24th  of  July, 
(lcS38)  at  Georgetown,  creeps  tardily  out  in  the  Septem- 
ber No.  of  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger:  and  except 
this  notice  by  us,  has  received  no  additional  observance, 
that  we  have  seen  or  heard  of,  from  the  American  pn 
One  single  step  more,  half  as  long  as  many  already 
taken-— will  (any  back  these  annual  wine-bibbers  to  St. 
Ignatius  and  St.  Bacchus,  into  the  darkness  most  eon- 
genial  to  both  saints  and  all  the  worshippers  of  each. 


AND   ST.   IGNATIUS.  203 

11  Commencement  Jhmiverfary  Georgetown  college. 
The  dinner,  §*c."  Such  is  the  caption  of  the  article 
commencing   "My  dear  WkUe"   and  written  by  a  hand 

lull  of  affection  for  the  college,  the  dinner,  the  music  and 

for  aught  that  appears,  the  drink  ;  as  well  as  for  the  res- 
pectable editor  whom  he  thus  fervently  addresses.  We 
have  no  doubt  the  writer  of  the  article,  is  every  inch  a 
gentleman  ;  albeit,  the  company  was  none  of  the  best : 
and  we  are  equally  sure  he  was  perfectly  composed;  al- 
beit, men  are  sometimes  singularly  affectionate,  at  the 
close  of  a  regular  set  to,  even  more  humble  and  meagre 
than  this  undoubtedly  was. ---Nay,  he  says  the  treat  wTas 
in  a  high  degree  "  interesting,  intellectual  and  social." 
If  it  were  the  two  last,  the  first  manifestly  follows.  And 
that  it  was  social,  wTho  can  doubt,  who  knows  the  powTers 
of  a  full  stomach  and  a  light  head?  And  as  intellectual 
may  be  defined  that  which  pertains  to  the  inward  or  spir- 
itual parts, ---we  presume  this  feast  wras  intellectual  in 
both  respects  ;  although,  not  perhaps,  in  the  strict  sense 
a  feast  upon  any  man's  intellect  in  the  proper  notion  of 
a  meal,  as  the  wrords  naturally  imply.  A  truce  to  this, 
howrever ;  for  writh  all  respect  for  the  author  and  the  ar- 
ticle, we  concern  ourselves  only  with  the  feast. 

It  is  rather  difficult,  always  to  keep  things  in  perfectly 
good  taste  and  proportion.  We  have  admitted  that  a 
revel  was  a  suitable  mode  to  celebrate  the  conjunction  of 
Bacchus  and  Loyola ;  but  we  submit  that  a  very  large 
feast  was  out  of  taste,  to  celebrate  the  exit  of  a  very  small 
class  from  the  college.  As  there  were  but  four  graduates, 
we  are  inclined  to  think  that  a  lunch,  or  a  breakfast,  or 
a  tea  drinking  would  have  been  more  in  keeping.  It  is 
a  strong  exemplification  of  the  low  state  of  morals  in  the 
country,  and  the  indifference  of  the  people  for  letters, 
that  this  venerable  and  noble  college,  where  boys  may 
learn  to  read,  but  must  learn  to  feast,  should  be  so  ne- 
glected; and  that  these  pure,  abstemious  and  patriotic  Je- 
suits, wTho  inculcate  a  taste  and  judgment  in  drinking  as 
wrell  as  in  studying,  should  be  left  wTith  a  patronage  so 
shamefully  inadequate ! 

We  shall  pass  by  the  criticisms  of  the  author  onthe 
performances  of  these  four  graduates,  so  far  as  they  are 


204  CONJUNCTION  OF   ST.   BACCHUS 

personal ;  remarking  only,  that  they  seem  to  us  rather 
harsh  than  otherwise,  towards  the  young  gentlemen. 
Those  criticisms,  however]  relate  in  a  secondary  sense  to 
the  teachers  in  the  institution;  and  deserve  a  moment's 
consideration  in  that  regard.  It  is  said,  for  example, 
that  G.  and  not  D.  who  received  it,  was  entitled,  accord- 
ing to  general  belief,  to  the  first  place  amongst  the  lour 
graduates.  A  hard  insinuation  this  ;  hut  one  that  the 
gentlemen  who  preside  with  so  much  impartiality  over 
St.  Joseph's  college,  at  Bardstown,  in  Kentucky,  and 
write  such  superlative  English — will  comprehend  with- 
out an  explanatory  note,  beyond  the  name  of — Howell. 
— Again,  G.  though  thus  distinguished  and  deserving, 
was  allowed  to  deliver  an  oration  remarkable  for  being 
"  strongly  imbued  with  sectional  feeling."  A  sad  fault, 
we  suppose,  in  men  charged  with  the  education  of  youth. 
Another  young  gentleman  (F.)  delivered  himself  of  a 
very  "  common  place"  oration.  And  a  fourth  (L.) 
though  very  clever,  is  said  to  have  spoken  indistinctly 
and  too  fast,  and  to  have  pronounced  shockingly;  in 
which  last  excellence,  G.  who  was  the  best  of  all,  largely 
partook.  The  sum  of  the  criticisms  on  these  four  per- 
formers, leaves  us  at  a  loss  how  to  express  our  admira- 
tion of  a  college  faculty,  which  teaches  its  pupils  to  speak 
too  fast  and  indistinctly,  to  pronounce  badly,  to  write  in 
a  common  place  manner,  and  to  entertain  improper  sec- 
tional feelings  ;  and  which  itself,  out  of  four  such  alumni, 
confers  the  hrst  appointment  on  the  wrrong  person!  To 
make  this  part  of  the  treat  "interesting,  intellectual  and 
social" — required,  manifestly,  neither  meat  nor  drink. 
This  part  of  the  ceremony,  was  moreover,  presided  over 
by  the  archbishop  himself,  in  great  style ;  and  the  whole 
enlivened  by  a  good  band  of  music.  So  that  on  the 
whole,  when  Mr.  Eccleston  came  to  award  the  prizes  and 
premiums,which  he  did  "with  much  imposing  ceremony" 
— the  people  retired  about  noon — all  wide  awake  ;  a  sig- 
nal proof  of  the  deep  interest  excited  in  all. 

This  finished  the  literary  or  pretence  part  of  the  affair. 
The  real  performance  was  yet  to  come  off;  and  the  real 
actors  therefore  remained  behind.  They  sauntered  about 
the  college, — for  the  dinner  was  not  quite  ready.     They 


AND   ST.   IGNATIUS.  205 

admired  the  fine  prospects — examined  one  thing  and  an- 
other, in  dalliance  with  languid  time — till  tin-  signal — the 
joyful  signal  was  struck;  and  kWI  had  the  honour  of  Sit- 
ting down,  with  Other  invited   guests,    at  (to,  sir,  if  yoU 

please)  one  of  the  most  sumptuous  and  social  banquets, 
it  was  ever  my  happiness  to  partake  of." 

So  to  work  they  went;  man  and  boy,  priest  and  lay- 
man, from  the  archbishop  down  to  the  most  timid  fresh- 
man; at  it  they  went,  eating  and  drinking;  drinking  and 
eating;  toasting  and  spouting;  spouting  and  toasting;  "the 
venerable  (11 )  archbishop  of  Baltimore  presiding,  with 
much  dignity  and  urbanity  over  the  festive  board." 

Well,  what  of  all  that? — will  some  reader  say.  Not 
much  perhaps.  But  in  these  temperance  times,  the  table 
feats  of  ecclesiastics,  are  not  perhaps  their  most  honour- 
able ones;  nor  the  capacity  to  teach  children  how  to 
urevel  in  the  day  time" — the  highest  recommendation  of 
a  college.  Still  more;  it  is  hardly  decorous  for  those  who 
despise  all  the  dainties  of  life — to  manifest  such  an  un- 
becoming publicity  in  their  greediness  to  enjoy  them 
upon  every  tolerable  and  some  intolerable  pretexts. 

It  is  not,  however,  chiefly  because  we  can  amuse  our- 
selves or  our  readers,  with  the  fooleries  of  these  vile 
hypocrites — and  in  doing  so  turn  the  public  ridicule  and 
contempt  upon  their  doings  and  pretensions — that  we 
condescend  to  notice  them.  It  is  a  small  matter,  that 
priest  Mulledy,  even  though  lately  principal  of  the  college, 
should  make  a  fool  of  himself  in  his  cups,  and  give  silly 
sentiments  with  his  wine.  It  is  nothing  to  us  if  he 
should,  at  a  hint  from  Mr.  Custis,  (whose  misfortune  it 
seems  to  be,  to  be  ever  ready  with  a  speech) — bring  in  a 
pantomime  to  amuse  the  reverend  company,  and  sweeten 
the  intervals  of  drink,  with  Punch  and  Jean,  or  any  other 
vain  trifling.  Xor  do  we  care  for  the  poor  scamps  who 
are  ever  ready  as  hangers  on,  to  make  one  in  a  dumb 
show,  or  degrade  themselves  for  good  meat,  or  sing  rib- 
ald songs  as  the  price  of  good  drink,  or  smerk  in  ap- 
proval of  the  infamy  of  a  host,  in  repayment  for  the  good 
cheer  had  and  expected.  These  things  move  us  not,  ex- 
cept to  deep  pity — or  strong  sorrow,  or  merited  contempt. 

But  at  these  dabauches,  ever  and  anon,  things  of  high 
18 


206  CONJUNCTION  OF  ST.    BACCHUS  ,  &C. 

import  leak  out,  things  which  challenge  the  public  no- 
tice, which  confirm  the  warnings  of  the  people's  friends, 
and  reveal  the  true  character  and  wicked  designs,  of  the 
pope's  minions  in  this  country.     Take  for  «  the 

following: 

Wm.  B.  Lewis,  Lsq.,  being  called  on  for  a  toast,  gave  the  health  of 
the  archbishop  of  Baltimore,  the  president  of  the  day, — who  happily  re- 
plied,— and  offered  a  sentiment  in  honor  of  the  Order  who  had  founded 
and  reared  the  Institution,  in  whose  halls  the  company  were  partaking  of 
the  pleasures  of  cordial  hospitality.  To  this  the  ex-rector  of  the  college 
responded  appropriately,  and  gave  the  health  of 

William  Joseph  Walter,  Esq.,  of  England — one  of  the  guests  present, 
a  literary  friend  and  brother,  who,  in  his  turn,  gave  "The  sons  of  ^t. 
Ignatius;  the  great  promoters  of  enlightened  education,  and  the  firm  up- 
holders of  truly  liberal  opinions,  throughout  the  world." 

So  then,  it  stands  confessed  before  all  mankind,  that 
archbishop  Eccleston  is  the  patron  of  the  Jesuits;  and 
that  even  in  his  moments  of  most  complete  relaxation, 
his  mind  never  wavers  in  its  purpose  to  honor  them! — 
Still  farther;  a  company  of  American  citizens  are  so  far 
lost  to  all  sense  of  shame,  all  love  of  liberty,  and  all  re- 
verence for  God,  as  to  drink  repeated  toasts  in  honour  ot 
the  Jesuits!  And  further  still,  a  vagabond  Englishman 
dares  to  insult  the  country  by  propounding  anew  such 
sentiments! 

Here  then,  is  the  final  settlement  of  this  most  import- 
ant question.  Archbishop  Eccleston  is  a  Jesuit.  The 
Jesuits  direct  all  the  affairs,  and  shape  all  the  principles 
of  the  papal  church  in  the  United  States. 

These  are  startling  facts.  Though  we  have  long- 
known  them — we  are  shocked  at  the  contemplation  of 
those  approaching  evils,  which  this  new  proof  brings  so 
clearly  before  our  minds.  Yes,  we  repeat  it;  the  nation 
cannot  avoid  the  most  dreadful  calamities — from  this  fa- 
tal and  corrupt  society,  unless  prompt  and  vigorous 
measures  can  be  taken  to  deliver  it  from  the  impending 
curse. 

The  society  of  Jesus  is  the  enemy  of  man.  The 
whole  human  race  should  unite  for  its  overthrow.  Earth 
and  heaven  should  rejoice  together  over  its  tomb. — For 
there  is  no  alternative  between  its  total  extirpation,  and 
the  absolute  corruption  and  degradation  of  mankind. 


207 


NUMBER    XXIII. 

PAPAL    UNITY ITS     NATURE,    CERTAINTY,    AND     ADVAN- 
TAGE. 

One  of  the  most  common  arguments  of  Papists  against 
the  reformed  churches,  is  our  want  of  unity,  of  a  com- 
mon visible  head,  and  of  a  judge  and  rule  by  which  to 
le  and  terminate  all  controversies.  With  this  argu- 
ment is  always  united  one  in  favour  of  papism,  because 
it  has  a  rule  of  faith,  a  jud^e  of  controversies,  a  visible 
head,  and  absolute  unity. 

It  is  c  ■  .  I  i  determine  whether  the  word  of  God  or  the 
word  of  man,  is  the  better  rule  of  faith;  whether  our  own 
judgment,  reason,  and  conscience,  or  those  of  other  men, 
be  the  safer  guide;  whether  a  spiritual  or  a  temporal 
unity  be  preferable;  and  whether  Christ  in  heaven  or  the 
pope  in  Rome,  be  the  more  glorious  head.  All  this  is 
clear  enough — and  the  two  cases  supposed,  are,  relative- 
ly, papism  and  Christianity. 

But  let  no  one  suppose  that  the  superiority  of  papism 
ends  even  here.  How  extremely  difficult  it  must  always 
be  for  Christians  to  know  who  is  really  their  Christ,  and 
how  he  was  so  constituted — all  can  tell.  But  how  very 
easy  it  is  to  ascertain  who  is  pope,  and  what  prodigious 
certainty  has  resulted  from  the  various  changes  in  the 
mode  of  making  him — and  what  immense  advantages 
have  thus,  in  many  ways  accrued  to  papism, — all  do  not 
know;  and  therefore  we  will  aid  them  a  little. 

The  Jesuit  Maimbourg  in  his  Histoire  du  Grand 
Schisme  D^Ocident,  which  constitutes  the  viii.  vol.  of 
his  Histories,  and  was  dedicated  by  him  to  that  cruel  bigot 
Louis  XIV.  of  France;  informs  us  that  the  popes  have 
been  elected  at  different  times,  in  very  different  ways. 
And  then  he  proceeds  to  narrate  briefly  and  comprehen- 
sively some  of  these,  in  historical  order.  We  translate 
pages  11 — 15  on  this  particular  subject;  after  perusing 
which,  the  reader  will  be  better  able  to  comprehend  how 
remarkably   certain   and  fixed  the  mode  of  creating  the 


208  PAPAL  UNITY ITS   NATURE, 

centre  of  unity,  the  judge  of  controversies,  and  the  head 
of  the  church — is,  and  has  always  been. 

"It  is  certain,"  says  the  Jesuit,  "that  Jesus  Christ  made  the  first  pope, 
in  the  person  of  Saint  Prttr,  whom  ho  directed  to  take  care  of  his  lambs, 
who  are  scattered  over  the  earth;  that  this  saint  declared  J^inus  his  first 
successor;  and  that  since  that  time  all  the  other  popes  have  been  elected 
after  the  death  of  their  predecessors, — but  in  modes  very  different  The 
people  and  the  clergy  jointly,  and  sometimes  trie  clergy  alone  with  the 
consent  of  the  people,  freely  made  this  election  by  a  plurality  of  \oices, 
for  the  first  five  centuries,  until  after  the  death  of  pope  Simjtlif.ii/>* 
Odoacer  K'ing  of  the  Ileruli  and  of  Italy  made,  a  law  by  which  under  the  pre- 
text of  wishing  to  remedy  the  troubles  and  disorders  which  had  sometimes 
occurred  at  the  election  of  pope,  he  forbade  any  election  in  future,  until 
the  will  of  the  prince  should  be  known  concerning  the  subject  who  ought 
to  be  chosen*  This  law,  so  contrary  to  the  liberty  of  elections,  was 
abolished  about  twenty  years  after,  at  the  iv.  council  of  Rome,  under 
pope  Symmachus,  with  the  consent  of  kingTheodoric  who  reigned  then 
with  much  wisdom  and  equity.  But  this  Arian  prince  became  bigoted 
and  ferocious  towards  the  close  of  life,  and  having  murdered  pope  Saint 
John,  in  prison,  he  tyrannically  usurped  the  right  to  create  the  pope  him- 
self, and  nominated,  Felix  IV. ,  to  the  pontificate.  The  Gothic  kings 
who  succeeded  him,  followed  his  example,  except,  however,  that  they 
contented  themselves  at  last,  with  confirming  him  whom  the  clergy  might 
elect,  but  who  could  not  take  possession  of  the  pontificate,  without  the 
consent  of  the  prince.  Justinian,  who  received  the  empire  of  the  Goths 
in  Italy,  and  after  him  the  other  emperors,  retained  this  usurped  right,  and 
even  reduced  the  church  to  a  servitude  so  disgraceful,  that  the  popo  elect 
was  obliged  to  pay  them  a  fixed  sum  of  silver,  to  obtain  the  confirmation 
which  he  was  obliged  to  ask,  before  he  was  permitted  to  exercise  any 
function  of  his  office.  Constantine  Pogonatus  delivered  the  church  from 
this  infamous  servitude,  by  abolishing  this  base  exaction;  but  still  the 
emperors  always  retained  some  authority  in  the  election  of  popes,  who 
could  not  be  consecrated  without  their  consent  and  approbation.  It  was 
the  French  to  whom  the  church  of  Rome  owed  all  her  temporal  gran- 
deur, and  they  also  resorted  to  her  to  full  liberty,  when  the  emperors 
Louis  le  Debonnaire,  Lothaire  I.  and  Louis  II.  declared  by  their  im- 
perial constitutions,  that  the  election  of  popes  should  be  free  and  canoni- 
cal, according  to  the  ancient  customs. 

"During  the  horrible  disorders  of  the  tenth  century,  and  in  the  de- 
plorable estate  to  which  the  Holy  See  was  reduced  during  that  period  of 
its  extreme  desolation,  by  the  tyranny  of  the  Marquis  of  Ftruria,  and  the 
counts  of  Tuscany — these  tyrants  and  the  Roman  grandees,  oppressed 
anew  the  liberty  of  the  church,  by  creating  and  deposing  popes  at  their 
pleasure,  and  according  as  they  were  more  or  less  suitable  instruments  of 
their  passions.  Otho  the  Great,  and  after  him  the  two  other  Othos,  Ins 
son  and  grand  son,  after  having  destroyed  the  tyranny  of  those  who 
treated  the  church  so  unworthily,  retained  her  themselves  in  a  kind  of 
slavery,  by  subjocting  to  their  authority  the  election  of  popes,  who  de- 
pended on  them.  The  emperor  Saint  Henry,  duke  of  Bavaria,  their  suc- 
cessor, restored  her  to  full  liberty,  by  leaving  this  election  to  the  clergy 
and  people  of  Rome,  after  the  example  of  the  French  emperors,  whose 
donation  he  solemnly   confirmed,    when  he  received  the   imperial  crown 


CERTAINTY,   AND   ADVANTAGE  209 

at  Rome.  Conrad  the  Saliqoe,  changed  do  thing;  l>ut  Henry  III.,  his 
son,  and  Henry  IV.,  his  grand  son,  with  the  consent  of  the  Romatu,  and 
of  JWcholas  II. 9  at  the  councils  of  Hutri  and  of  Rome,  usurped  the 
power  to  choose,  or  to  make  others  elect,  whom  thry  would  have  for 
pope;  which,  by  their  abuse,  caused  horrible  troubles  in  the  church,  and 
in  the  end  produced  the  war  between  the  popes  and  the  emperors,  on  the 
subject  of  investitures. 

Finally,  the  church  having  been  still  farther  troubled  during  almost  a 
century,  by  the  anti-popes,  whom  the  emperors  and  schismatics  on  one 
side,  and  the  factions  amongst  the  people  and  clergy  of  Rome  on  the 
other,  opposed  to  the  pontiffs  legitimately  elected,  peace  and  the  liberty 
of  election  was  restored  by  Innocent  II.  For  after  the  famous  schism 
of  Pierre  de  Leon,  called  Anacletus,  and  of  Victor  IV.,  had  been  entire- 
ly suppressed,  chiefly  by  the  labours  of  Saint  Bernard,  all  the  cardinals 
re-united  under  the  authority  of  Innocent^  and  strengthened  by  the 
principal  clergy  of  Rome,  whom  this  pope  with  great  address  united 
with  them  in  the  sacred  college,  acquired  so  much  authority,  that  after 
his  death  they  alone  elected  pope  Celistine  II.,  and  from  that  time  they 
have  always  maintained  themselves  in  the  possession  of  this  high  privi- 
lege, the  senate,  the  people,  and  the  rest  of  the  clergy  having  finally 
ceased  to  take  any  part  in  it.  At  the  death  of  Gregory  XI  ,  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty  five  years  had  elapsed  since  the  cardinals  had  possessed 
the  sole  power  to  elect  the  pope;  which  since  Honorius  III.,  or,  accord- 
ing to  some,  since  Gregory  X.,  they  did,  shut  up  in  conclave;  and  the 
election  to  be  legitimate  and  canonical,  was  obliged  to  be  free,  and  by  a 
majority  of  two-thirds.  Gregory  XI.,  nevertheless  foreseeing  the  disorders 
which  must  arise,  if  a  successor  was  notpromply  elected  to  him,  issued  a 
Bull  three  days  before  his  death,  by  which  he  permitted  the  cardinals, 
for  that  time  only,  to  elect  a  pope  by  a  majority  of  voices,  and  wherever 
they  chose  to  make  it." 

So  far  Monsieur  Maimbourg.  His  brief  and  compre- 
hensive sketch  comes  down  to  the  latter  part  of  the  four- 
teenth century;  his  particular  purpose  requiring  him  to 
terminate  upon  the  inception  of  the  great  schism  whose 
history  he  was  about  to  trace.  As  we  have  translated 
the  passage,  we  noted  with  our  pen,  the  successive 
changes  in  principles  and  facts,  regarding  the  mode  of 
electing  and  constituting  this  great  substitute  of  the  Pa- 
pists for  our  judge  of  controversies  and  centre  of  unity; 
and  we  find  that  only  thirty-one  times,  have  fundamental 
variations  occured  during  the  first  fourteen  centuries! — 
Surely  that  is  a  happy  church  which  is  blessed  with  thirty- 
one  tried  methods  by  which  to  constitute  its  visible  head! 
Surely  that  man  must  be  unreasonable  in  demanding  a 
mode  of  arriving  at  certainty  on  this  important  subject — 
who  cannot  find  what  will  please  him,  in  thirty-one  dif- 
ferent ways!  Surely  there  is  a  certainty  of  papal,  as 
18* 


210  PAPAL   UNITY ITS   NATl  i 

much  greater  than  there  is  of  Christian  unity,  as  then 
are  more  ways  to  make  a  pope,  and  therefore  more  chan- 
ces that  a  man  maybe  true  pope — than  there  are  mode* 

of  access  to   one   only    Mediator,   who  is   the   exchlS 
head  of  all  Christian  churches! 

Itcannot  be  denied  that  the  election  ofa  |  ope  i>  the 
most  important  affair  about  which  Christ  end  (  m  can  be 
concerned.  It  i.>  [jo  less  than  the  choice  of  the  corns 
father  of  all  the  faithful,  the  successor  of  the  prince  of  the 
apostles,  the  vicar  of  Christ  himself !  It  is  therefore  de- 
lightful to  contemplate  the  certainty,  the  antiquity,  and 
the  divine  appointment  of  that  right,  by  virtue  of  which 
they  who  have  for  some  centuries  last  past  exercised  this 
high  function,  were  originally  invested  with  it;  and  to  re- 
call the  harmony,  peace,  spirituality,  and  disinterested- 
ness, which  they  have  so  long  and  so  constantly  display- 
ed in  its  exercise.  The  Histoire  des  Conclaves,  which 
lies  before  us,  has  suggested  this  additional  argument  in 
favour  of  the  superior  certainty  and  excellence  of  papal 
over  Christian  unity.  The  power  of  appointment,  so 
often  varied,  and  subject  to  such  immense  changes,  was 
about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  under  the  ponti- 
ficate of  Innocent  II.,  engrossed  exclusively  by  the  car- 
dinals and  clergy  of  Rome.  In  1160,  under  Alexander 
III.,  these  same  cardinals,  who  had  been  at  first  simple 
cures  of  Rome,  having  become  the  counsellors  and  then 
the  assistants  of  the  pope — in  their  turn  assumed  the  ex- 
clusive power  of  election.  For  eleven  centuries  after 
Christ,  these  cardinals  had  no  voice  whatever  in  the 
election  of  pope  ;  and  yet  for  above  five  centuries  last 
past,  their  voice  has  been  the  only  one  canonically  allow- 
ed to  be  heard  in  the  same  election  !  Remarkable  revo- 
lution !  For  eleven  centuries  those  whom  Christ  ap- 
pointed to  elect  his  vicar  were  absolutely  excluded  from 
any  voice  in  that  election;  or  else  for  five  centuries  and 
more,  those  whom  Christ  never  called  to  this  awful  au- 
thority, have  intruded  into  it  and  thrust  out  the  true 
electors !  Solemn  manifestation  of  the  certainty  and 
scripturalness  of  the  papal  succession  and  unity! 

But  the  absolute  blessings  which  papal  unity  has 
ferred  on  mankind,  arc  even  greater  than  these  e\ 


CERTAINTY,   AND   ADVANTAGE'.  S]  i 


dinary  facts  would  lead  us  to  expect  Maimbc  j 
still  our  authority  (p.  -,)  for  asserting,  that  "Since  the 
damnable  enterprise  of  the  ambitious  Novation,  who  re- 
volted against  pope  Saint  Cornelius,  and  by  the  cabal  of 
the  heretic  African  Bishop  Novatus  was  sacrilegiously  or- 
dained bishop  of  Rome,  and  formed  the  first  schism," — 
the  great  schism  of  the  west,  which  commenced  under 
Urban  VI. — "was  the  twenty-ninth  which  separated  the 
Catholic  communion,  and  divided  between  different  heads, 
the  same  church,  to  which  by  all  laws  human  and  divine, 
there  should  have  been  but  one,  and  that  in  one  person!" 
So  that  in  eleven  centuries,  this  simple  question,  where 
is  unity,  who  is  pope1)  has,  only  twenty-nine  times 
rent  the  papacy!  What  an  illustration  of  the  value  of 
unity!  What  a  proof  that  a  visible  head  produces  it!—- 
What  an  evidence  of  the  necessity  of  a  judge  of  contro- 
versies! What  a  demonstration  that  he  settles  them  ! — 
Only  one  schism  every  forty  years,  for  eleven  centuries, 
upon  the  simple  and  single  question,  who  is  our  judge? 
who  is  our  visible  head?  Alas!  poor  Christians;  ibr  our 
parts,  we  have  never  been  able  to  raise  one  single  schism 
in  eighteen  centuries,  as  to  who,  what,  and  where  was 
our  invisible  head;  nor  to  produce  the  quarter  of  twenty- 
nine  fundamental  divisions  amongst  us  upon  all  the  capi- 
tal points  of  religion  put  together! 

Nor  let  it  be  supposed,  for  a  moment,  that  these  great 
blessings  to  the  papacy,  have  been  only  incidental;  nor 
that  only  a  few  have  partaken  of  them;  nor  that  they  have 
been  of  short  duration.  By  no  means.  They  have 
flowed  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case;  they  have  ex- 
tended through  successive  generations;  they  have  en- 
grossed the  wThole  papal  world;  they  have  been  so  deep 
seated  as  to  be  incapable  of  solution  even  by  universal 
councils  inspired,  as  they  said,  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
guided  by  infallible  wisdom.  Maimbourg  again  shall  be 
our  authority.  He  asserts  (p.  3  and  4)  that  in  the  great 
schism,  whose  history  he  writes,  "It  was  morally  impos- 
sible to  decide  who  were  true  popes  and  who  anti-popes. — 
In-somuch  that  even  a  universal  council  which  had  the 
infallible  assistance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for  every  thing 
which   appertained  to  the  faith,  did  not  consider  itself 


212  PAPAL  UNTTY ITS  NATURE, 

sufficiently  enlightened  lo  dissipate  the  darkness,  and 
pronounce  on  the  rights  of  the  parties.     And  it  finally 

judged,  that  to  take  a  sure  course  in  this  uncertainty  it 
was  better  to  act  by  authority  than  by  knowledge ^  and  to 
exert  its  sovereign  power  in  deposing  the  two  pretended 

popes,  that  it  might  givfe  to  the  church,  by  a  lawful  and 
incontestable  election,  a  head,  in  whom  no  one  could 

(•oiliest  the  august  quality,  without  manifest  revolt." — 

He  adds,  "This  furious  schism  extended  over  all  Christ- 
endom— without  there  being  any  visible  heretics.  For 
it  is  indubitable,  that  there  were  in  the  opposite  parties, 
great  men,  celebrated  jurisconsults,  most  learned  theolo- 
gians, entire  universities,  and  even  saints,  yea  saints  who 
had  revelations  and  wrought  miracles!  There  were  also 
on  both  sides,  the  strongest  presumptions  and  conjectures 
and  the  most  plausible  reasons." — After  all  this,  and 
much  more  like  it,  he  proceeds  to  declare  (p.  6),  "That 
the  primacy  of  the  pope  had  never  been  better  established 
than  during  the  schism  of  the  Greeks;  *  *  *  and  the 
unity  of  the  Holy  See,  to  which  all  the  churches  of 
Christendom  ought  to  tend  as  lines  to  their  common  cen- 
tre, was  never  better  preserved  than  during  the  great 
schism  of  the  west." 

Glorious  unity — which  is  not  hurt  by  being  destroyed; 
which  constantly  exists  though  recognised  by  no  one  ; 
which  is  indispensable  to  the  very  being  of  the  church, 
and  yet  morally  impossible  to  be  ascertained;  which  is  es- 
tablished to  maintain  peace,  and  has  created  the  most  ex- 
tensive, furious,  complicated,  and  repeated  schisms;  nay, 
whose  existence  is  a  sure  mark  that  the  church  which 
has  been  tiventy-nine  times  convulsed  by  it,  is  the  only 
united  church  on  earth!  Know  you  not,  said  a  peace- 
maker, to  a  loving  couple  in  the  midst  of  their  contention, 
— know  you  not,  that  being  man  and  wife,  ye  are  one1/ 
Sir,  was  the  simple  response,  if  you  heard  us  sometimes, 
you  would  think  we  were  twenty!  True  illustration  of 
the  source  of  our  mistakes  about  papal  unity.  It  is  a 
real  unity,  such  as  it  is;  and  what  it  is,  we  have  now 
shown  by  their  own  testimony. 

These   observations  are    confined   to  the   question  of 
unity )  as  it  relates  to  the  head  of  the  papal  church,  and 


CEKTAINTY,  AND  ADVANTAGE.  213 

its  uncommon   advair  d    remarkable    eertaint\   afl 

compared  with  the  Aecd  of  the  Christum  church*     There 

pother  yiew  of  the  subject,  equally  striking  and 
inarkable,  which  W€  will  at  present   merely  — It 

will  be  found  by  a  careful  consideration  of  the  sub 
that  even  supposing  the  centre  of  unity  to  be  exactly- 
agreed  on,  and  the  real  head  of  the  church  fixed:  then 
other  questions  which  arise  from  the  complex  nature  of 
the  pope's  character  and  offices,  render  it  most  admira- 
bly impossible  to  determine,  whether  be  alone,  or  he  with 
the  church;  whether  he  as  bishop  of  Rome,  or  as  uni- 
versal pastor;  whether  he  as  temporal  head  of  the  Roman 
church,  or  universal  Roman  head  of  all  churches,  &c. 
&r.  fee. — is  t  i  be  heard  when  he  does  speak — or  is  to  be 
judged  to  have  actually  spoken.  A  sUghl  glance  at  the 
remarkable  work  of  the  ^Ibbe  Vamiurndj  of  the  univer- 
sity of  Pavia,  entitled,  True  Idea  of  the  Holy  See — will 
give  a  clear  notion  of  this  part  of  the  subject. 

But  there  is  another  difficulty  still  more  excellent  than 
this.  Who — what — where  is  the  church  of  Rome? — 
What  is  that — of  whose  unity  we  speak?  Do  you  mean 
all  the  faithful?  Or  only  all  the  ecclesiastics?  Or  only 
the  priests?  Or  only  the  prelates?  Or  only  the  cardinals 
and  the  pope?  Or  only  the  pope?  If  any  one  will  ex- 
amine the  great  Latin  work  of  the  celebrated  Peter  de 
Marca,  entitled  Concord  of  the  Empire  and  the  Priest- 
hood— he  will  see  reason  enough  to  be  satisfied,  that  the 
very  body  which  boasts  of  its  unity,  is  itself  not  only  in- 
capable of  establishing  its  personal  identity,  by  any  rules 
of  judgment  established  and  admitted  by  itself;  but  that 
in  truth,  taking  its  own  principles  as  the  guide  of  our 
judgment,  we  cannot  avoid  concluding  it  entirely  out  of 
existence! 

How  clear  and  admirable  then  is  papal  unity! — A  uni- 
ty predicated,  first  of  a  church,  which  is  in  fact  no  church 
at  all — but  merely  a  religious  state;  secondly,  of  the  sin- 
gle head  de  facto  of  that  supposed  church,  which  twenty 
nine  times  has  had  two  and  often  three  heads  at  the  same 
time;  thirdly  of  that  single  head  de  jure, — when,  they 
themselves  have  been  morally  incapable  of  deciding  as  to 
the  mere  right,  twenty  nine  different  times;   fourthly,  as 


214        CREED  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME; 

to  the  capacity ,  in  which  that  single  head  is  to  decide, — 
who  occupying  five  separate  conditions,  viz.  bishop  01 
Rome,  universal  pastor,    successor  of  St.  Peter  and   so 
chief  of  the  bishops,  vicar  of  Christ,    and  temporal  head 
of  the  Roman  state— and  speaking  in  all,  is  to  be  held 
the  centre  of  unity,  no  one  knows  in  which;   fifthly  as  to 
the   subjective   nature    of  the   matter  he   utters,   and    of 
course  of  the  required  unity— whether  as  to  matter  of  fact, 
or  matter  of  faith,  or  matter  of  morals,  or  matter  of  dis- 
ciple,—or  whether  as   to   all;  for  if  of  all,  then    it  is  a 
unity  in  error,  as  for  example,  about  matter  of  fact  in  the 
case  of  Galileo   where  the  unity  said  the  sun  revolved 
round  the  earth, —but  if  not  binding  even   in  matter  of 
fact,  then  useless  and  nugatory,  as  for  example  in  the  case 
of   the  JansenistSy  whose   great  defence  was,  that  the 
pope  erred  in  saying,  that  the  propositions  condemned, 
were  in  fact,  taught  in  the  books  condemned! 

Admirable  unity;— certain,  practical,  available,  advan- 
tageous, beyond  conception.— How  incomparably  pre- 
ferable to  that  Christian  unity  which  finds  in  Christ  its 
only  head,  in  spiritual  bonds  its  only  mode  of  enforce- 
ment, in  the  graces  of  religion  the  great  evidence  of  its 
existence,  in  universal  peace  and  brotherhood  its  grand 
result,  and  in  the  w7ord  of  God  its  only  rule  and  instru- 
ment ! 


NUMBER   XXIV. 

CREED  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME;  HER  DILEMMA  AND 
IMPOSTURE. 

All  who  are  but  tolerably  conversant  with  the  papal 
controversy—and  would  to  God  that  all  wrere  even  tolerably 
conversant  with  it — know  that  the  antiquity  o(  their  faith, 
is  one  of  the  standard  arguments  of  the  Papists.  Their 
faith,  they  Bay,  is  unalterable,  the  same  every-where,  and 
always;  wdiile  ours  is  variable,  novel  and  uncertain. 


HER  DILEMMA   AND   IMPOSTURE.  2l5 

The  object  of  this  urti<  point  out,  in  tin*  indu- 

bitable facts  of  the  case,  two  things  I  impoftan 

in  the  argument,  neither  of  which  has  been  strongly  pre- 
sented in  the  books  ;  and  which,  seem  to  show  \ 
clearly,  1.  Thai  Rome,  upon  her  own  -statement  of  the 
involved  in  an  inextricable  dilemma  ;  and,  II. 
That  on  the  basis  of  her  present  profession,  she  is,  as  an 
ecclesiastical  organization  with  a  fixed  creed,  younger 
than  she  herself  admits  Protestantism  to  be. 

First  of  all — what  is  the  creed  of  the  church  of  Rome? 
Of  course  the  creed  of  Pius  IV.,  at  present,  and  for  some- 
what less  than  three  centuries  last  past.  But  that  creed, 
had  no  existence  before  the  council  of  Trent ;  nor  the 
decrees  of  that  council,  out  of  which  it  is  composed,  any 
authority  before  their  confirmation  by  the  Pope  Pius  IV., 
in  full  consistory  on  the  26th  day  of  January,  1564; 
which  is  declared  on  the  face  of  the  Bull  itself  and  the 
consistorial  act,  printed  with  the  decrees.  But  the  creed 
itself  was  not  prepared  till  nearly  a  year  afterwards.  Of 
this,  however,  more  particularly  hereafter. 

But  what  was  the  creed  of  Rome  before  this  creed  of 
Pius  IV.  was  issued  ?  What,  before  the  council  of  Trent 
assembled  ?  This  is  a  most  important  question,  and  we 
will  answer  it  with  precision  and  on  the  highest  authority. 

Father  Paul,  in  his  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  in- 
forms us,  that  amongst  the  various  points  of  difficulty 
which  embarrassed  the  good  fathers  in  their  early  con- 
gregations, one  was  as  to  the  proper  order  of  proceeding 
in  condemning  the  Lutheran  heresy,  as  it  was  then  called; 
and  another,  still  more  grave,  was,  whether  in  regard  to 
the  estate  of  holy  mother  church  herself,  it  was  best  to 
begin  with  reformation,  or  with  doctrine,  or  to  carry  for- 
ward both  together.  In  regard  to  the  former  subject, 
the  major  part  considered  that  the  proper  way  to  proceed, 
was  to  take  up  the  creed  of  the  heretics,  and  condemn 
their  errors  point  by  point :  a  natural  course,  from  which 
they  were  diverted  by  considering  that  as  the  first  two 
heads  of  the  Augustan  (or  Augsburg)  confession  treated 
of  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation,  and  expressed  sub- 
stantially the  doctrine  held  by  the  council  itself;  it  would 
be  impossible  to   condemn  them,  impolitic  to  approve 


216  CREED  OF  THE    CHURCH   OF  ROME; 

them,  and  dangerous  to  pass  them  over  in  silence.  In 
this  state  of  perplexity,  the  legates  of  the  pope  being  also 
without  instructions  from  the  pope,  and  the  whole  object 
being  to  spin  out  the  time  and  do  as  little  as  possible; 
cardinal  Pole  suggested  that  aa  all  the  ancient  councils 
had  made  a  profession  of  their  faith,  this  Ought  to  do  the 
same  in  the  beginning  of  its  sessions,  by  publishing  that 

of  the  church  of  Koine;  and  it  w;is  accordingly  resolved 
in  a  congregation  held  between  the  second  and  third 
sessions  of  the  council,  to  make  a  decree  With  a  simple 
title,  and  to  make  mention  therein  that  they  ought  to 
treat  of  religion  and  reformation  ;  but  in  such  general 
terms,  that  the  creed  might  be  recited,  and  passed  over, 
making  another  decree  to  defer  the  principal  points  until 
another  session,  &c. 

When  this  decree  was  formed,  adds  the  historian,  they 
(the  legates)  imparted  it  to  the  prelates  they  trusted  most, 
amongst  whom  the  bishop  of  Bitonto  put  to  their  con- 
sideration, that  to  make  a  session  to  establish  a  creed  made 
1200  years  before,  and  continually  believed,  and  now  abso- 
lutely accepted  by  all,  might  be  laughed  at  by  those  that 
were  captious,  and  ill  expounded  by  others.  Again, 
continued  the  same  prelate,  to  recall  it  (the  creed)  into 
memory,  in  regard  it  was  repeated  every  week  in  all  church- 
es, and  ivas  in  the  fresh  memory  of  every  one,  was  a  thing 
superfluous  and  affected.  That  the  heretics  should  be 
convinced  by  the  confession,  was  true  of  those  who  erred 
against  it;  but  it  was  not  so  of  the  Lutherans,  who  believ- 
ed it  as  the  Catholics. 

To  all  this,  another  prelate,  the  bishop  of  Chioza, 
added  some  pregnant  words  :  for,  said  he,  the  reasons 
alleged  might  serve  the  heretics'  turns,  by  saying,  that 
if  the  confession  can  serve  to  convert  infidels,  overcome 
heretics,  and  confirm  the  faithful,  they  could  not  enforce 
t'nem  to  believe  any  thing  besides. 

These  reasons,  strong  as  they  were,  failed  to  convince 
the  legates.  Wherefore,  on  the  4th  day  of  February, 
1546,  the  council  celebrated  its  third  session,  and  after 
Peter  Tragliariu,  archbishop  of  Palermo,  had  sung  mafife, 
.Ambrose  Cntcrin,  of  Siena,  a  Dominican  Friar  and  arch- 
bishop of  Torre,  read  the  decree.     The  substance  where- 


HER  DILEMMA  AND  IMPOSTURE.  217 

of,  says  Father  Paul,  was,  that  the  Synod  considering 
the  importance  of  the  two  points  to  be  treated  of,  that  is. 
the  extirpation  of  heresies,  and  reformation  of  manners, 
exhorteth  all  to  trust  in  God  and  arm  themselves  with 
spiritual  weapons;  and  that  their  diligence  maj  have  both 
beginning-  and  progress  from  the  grace  of  God,  U  deter* 
mineth  to  begin  from  the  Confession  of  Faith,  imitating 
the  examples  of  the  fathers,  who  in  the  principal  councils 
in  the  beginning  of  the  actions  have  opposed  that  buck- 
ler against  the  heresies,  and  sometimes  have  converted 
the  infidels  and  overcome  heretics  with  that  alone;  in 

WHICH  ALL  THAT  PROFESS    CHRISTIANITY  DO  AGREE. 

And  here  the  whole  was  repeated  word  by  word,  without 
adding  any  other  conclusion.  And  the  archbishop  asked 
the  fathers,  whether  the  decrees  pleased  them.  Jill  an- 
steered  affirmatively,  fyc.  (See  Upere  di  F.  Paolo  Sarpi, 
Tom.  I,  lstoria  del  Concilio  Tridentino  Lilro  II.  This  great 
work  has  been  published  separately  in  several  languages, 
under  the  name  of  Pietro  Soave  Polano,  which  is  an 
anagram  of  the  author's  real  name.) 

It  is,  then,  absolutely  certain,  that  until  the  council  of 
Trent,  some  one  or  other  of  the  ancient  and  universally 
received  formularies  of  the  church  of  Christ,  was  used 
and  professed,  as  that  of  the  church  of  Rome;  and  it 
might  seem  from  the  foregoing  statements  that  the  one 
used  at  Trent,  may  have  been  the  Apostles'  Greed  itself. 
At  the  very  least,  we  are  authorized  to  say,  that  from  the 
council  of  Nice,  in  324,  to  the  third  session  of  that  of 
Trent,  in  1546,  there  existed  in  the  papal  church  no  sepa- 
rate, authorized,  published,  general  standard  of  faith, 
besides  those  common  to  the  church  of  God.  This  seems 
irresistibly  established  ;  and  her  professed  faith  from  her 
origin  up  to  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  after 
Christ,  that  is  for  the  first  ten  a  half  centuries  of  her 
apostacy,  however  it  might  differ  from  her  real  belief, 
wras  such  as  every  Christian  might,  yea  such  as  nearly 
all  Christians  do,  and  always  did,  adopt.  This  fact  es- 
tablishes at  once,  the  perfidy  and  hypocrisy  of  Rome,  as 
well  as  her  comparatively  modern  origin;  and  it  showrs  at 
the  same  time,  how  it  was,  that  through  ages  of  practical 
corruption  and  apostacy,  it  was  possible  for  true  Christians 
19 


218        CKEED  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME; 

to  remain  lawfully  in  her  bosom;  a  possibility  which 
apprehend  no  longer  existed  after  they   were  forced  to 
profess  the  new,  false,  and  corrupt  cited  oi'  Trent. 

It  cannot  in  the  least  vary  the  argument,  as  il  regi 
the  church  of  Rome,  to  flee  for  refuge  to  the  general  coun- 
cils following  thai  af  Nice;  nor  to  tin  rthodox 
creeds  tolerated  by  her,  and  allowed  to  be  professed  by 
her  subjects.  For,  1,  all  the  early  creeds  called  orthodox, 
and  all  the  early  councils  really  general,  treated  of  p< 
in  regard  to  which  the  church  of  Rome  has  never  pro- 
Jessed  to  differ  from  that  of  Christ.  This  is  notoriously 
true  of  the  council  of  Nice  and  its  creed;  of  the  council 
of  Chalcedon  and  its  creed,  which  was  levelled  chiefly 
against  the  errors  of  the  Eutichians;  of  the  first  council 
of  Constantinople  and  its  creed,  which  differed  from  that 
of  Nice  chiefly  in  being  more  full  and  minute  as  to  the 
procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  of  the  council  of  Ephesus, 
and  its  decisions  (rather  than  creed)  against  the  Nesto- 
rians.  The  general  fact  is  the  same  in  regard  to  the 
creed  of  Irenceus,  and  equally  so  in  regard  to  the  famous 
one  of  Athanasius.*  2.  Because  these  creeds  were  never 
of  public  and  specific  authority  in  the  church  of  Rome. 
3.  They  are  irreconcileable  with  that  of  Pius  IV.  4. 
They  are  held  by  the  great  body  of  the  church  of  Christ 
to  this  day;  and  are  even  publicly  professed  by  large  por- 
tions of  it;  standing  m  this  respect,  on  the  same  footing 
with  that  of  Nice — as  we  shall  presently  show. 

Let  it  however,  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  is  an  era, 
before  the  creed  of  Nice;  during  which,  the  creed  com- 
monly called  the  apostles''  creed,  was  the  only  one  which 
could  have  been  in  existence  in  the  church  of  God.  And 
to  this  hour  there  is  not  a  true  Christian  on  earth,  who 
does  not  adopt  this  venerable  standard,  as  expressing  the 
analogy  of  faith.      For  as  God    himself,  in  the  OldTes- 

•The  reader  will  find  all  the  five  creeds  mentioned  in  the  text,  on 
pages  28 — 31  of  the  Catholicus  Veterum  Consensus,  &e.,  in  the  end 
of  the  Corpus  ei  Syntagma  Confessionum,  Geneva,  l i> 5 4 .  This  no- 
ble work,  lor  which  the  world  is  indebted  to  (Jasper  Laursntius 
ia  out  of  print;  and  ought  to  be  re-printed  in  an  English  dress,  or  Latin 
and  English,  and  possessed  by  every  educated  Protestant.  What  a  merc\ 
to  the  world  it  would  have  been,  if  all  modern  theologians  had  studied  it! 


REB  DILEMMA   AND   IMPOSTURE.  219 

tament,  has  given  in  the  ten  commandments,  a  perfi 
Summary  of  the  rule  of  duty;  and  Christ  our  Saviour, 
in  the  New,  has  provided  us  in  what  is  commonly  called 
the  Lord's  prayer,  with  a  perfect  rule  of  supplication;  so 
the  early  church  of  God,  possibly  even  while  the  spirit  of 
inspiration  still  lingered  in  it,  has  given  to  us  this  true 
model  of  the  analogy,  and  summary  of  our  belief;  and 
all  ages  have  consented  that  it  is  good,  true,  and  profit- 
able. 

Here  then,  are  distinct  and  repeated  eras,  in  which  the 
church  of  Rome  has,  on  her  own  showing,  distinctly  al- 
tered her  rule  of  action,  but  towards  her  own  children 
and  towards  the  wTorld  at  large.  There  was  an  era  near- 
ly three  centuries  long,  during  which  if  her  story  is  true, 
her  demauds  were  satisfied  if  her  children  believed  the 
apostles'  creed;  and  all  in  her  communion  secured  eternal 
rest  on  that  ancient  platform.  Then  came  another  era, 
even  from  Nice  to  Trent,  wThen  besides  the  apostles' 
creed,  that  of  Nice  also  was  obliged  to  be  knowTn  and 
believed.  How  then  shall  w<e  get  on?  Shall  we  say  that 
men  wTere  saved  for  three  centuries  before  Nice;  and  must 
all  be  damned,  in  exactly  the  same  circumstances,  for 
twelve  centuries  between  Nice  and  Trent?  And  yet  all 
the  while — the  faith  of  the  church  unalterable?  Or  shall 
we  say,  all  before  Nice  are  damned  for  want  of  an  ex- 
plicit knowledge  and  adoption  of  the  faith  contained  in 
its  symbol?  And  still  the  faith  of  the  church  unalter- 
able? Or  must  wTe  confess  there  is  no  difference  between 
the  two  creeds;  and  so  accuse  the  church  of  sending 
people  to  hell,  for  not  knowing,  or  for  refusing  a  thing 
purely  indifferent  or  superfluous^ 

The  reader  will  see  at  once,  that  instead  of  helping  the 
case  of  Rome  it  only  aggravates  it,  to  make  new  eras 
between  Nice  and  Trent;  and  that  it  multiplies  the  diffi- 
culties to  allowT  any  of  the  creeds,  whether  public  or  pri- 
vate, promulged  during  the  ages  between  those  two  coun- 
cils— to  have  been  authorised  creeds  of  that  church,  and 
to  have  contained  points  of  difference  between  it  and  the 
reformed  churches.  So  also  it  will  be  perceived  that  the 
argument  pressed  above,  as  between  the  apostles'  creed 
and  that    of  Nice;  applies  with  far  greater  force  as  be- 


220        (REED  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME; 

tween  the  creed  of  Trent,  and  all  the  others.  And  it  is 
this  last  difficulty,  which  seems  perfectly  insuperable  as 
a  practical  one,  in  the  controversy  of  Rome  with  Pro- 
testants. .1  [ere  we  stand — asserting  our  belief,  ex  <ntimo, 
in  the  apostles'  creed,  and  in  those  of  the  councils  of 
Nice,  Chalcedon,  Constantinople,  and  Bphesus;  on  the 
first  of  these,  Koine,  by  her  own  showing,  admitted  all 
the  world  to  her  communion  and  to  heaven,  for  three  cen- 
turies ;  andlor  twelve  additional  centuries  she  demand- 
ed, nothing  more,  than  the  belief  of  them  all — if  indeed 
so  much.  But  now,  for  nearly  three  hundred  years,  she 
sends  all  the  world  to  hell,  just  on  the  same  terms  she 
sent  them  to  heaven  for  fifteen  centuries;  and  requires  us 
to  believe  a  new  creed,  made  at  Trent,  utterly  different 
from  all  that  went  before  it.  Different  in  points  fui 
mental;  and  therefore  they  who  were  saved  without  them, 
were  saved  in  ignorance  or  rejection  of  fundamental 
points;  and  so,  why  not  we?  Or  different  in  points  not 
fundamental;  and  so  why  pressed  on  us,  at  the  risk  of 
our  perdition,  against  our  consciences? 

This  argument  seems  to  us  conclusive;  the  dilemma 
inextricable.  Is  the  faith  of  Rome  invariable?  Then 
why  do  her  creeds  vary  so  shockingly?  Or  why  have 
more  than  one? — Is  the  apostles'  creed  identical  with 
that  of  Pius  IV.?  If  not,  they  cannot  both  contain  the 
faith  of  Rome  and  that  faith  be  at  the  same  time,  invari- 
able through  all  time.  If  Rome  considers  them  identi- 
cal, why  create  schism  by  pressing  that  of  Pius,  on  those 
who  cannot  adopt  it,  but  can  joyfully  adopt  that  of  the 
apostles? — But  if  Rome  considers  them,  not  identical — 
as  in  truth  they  are  not, — then  the  creed  of  Rome  has 
fundamentally  varied — as  her  own  standards  attest:  and 
her  faith,  instead  of  being  uniform,  is  more  absolutely 
variant  from  itself — nay  inreconcileahle  with  itself — than 
that  of  any  other  church  true  or  false  that  Las  had  a 
creed. — 

We  wait  an  answer;  commending  the  subject  to  our 
learned  ecclesiastics,  as  being  more  worthy  of  their 
thoughts  than  the  innumerable  trifles  of  diet,  raiment, 
chanting,  and  ail  the  littlenesses  that  makeup  the  round 
of  their  empty  and  tawdry  superstition. 


HER  DILEMMA   AND   IMPOSTURE*  22] 

Let  us,  in  the  mean  time,  turn  the  other  edge  of  the 
subject;  which  if  we  mistake  not,  is  as  hard  and  as  sharp 
as  the  one  that  has  been  jusl  laid  over  for   trial   by  the 
priests.     We  come  now  to  speak  ofthe  posture  ofR< 
as  exhibited  by  her  present  creed. 

In  point  of  historic  truth,  the  Roman  Catholic  churcfi 
never  had  any  authorised  confession  of  faith  except  the 
creed  of  Pius  IV.      The  ancient,   particular  churches 
the  city  of  Rome,  doubtless    received,  like  the  rest  of 
Christendom,  the  apostles'  creed  as  the  symbol  of  their 
faith;  and  like  the  rest,  may  have  adopted  the  creeds  of 
the  first  four  general  councils  named  above.     But  the 
early  councils  were  not  called  by,  nor  out  ofthe  Latin 
church — which  indeed  hardly  existed,  as  an   organized 
body.     They  were  essentially  Greek  councils,  made  up  of 
eastern  bishops,  and  they  set  forth  the  creed,  not  of  the  pa- 
pal, but  of  the   Christian  church   of  those   ages.      The 
bodies  which  formed  those  early   creeds,  were  no  more 
papal  than   those  were  which    formed  the  creeds  of  the 
reformation.     The    Synod  of  Dort   was  just  about    as 
much  a  papal  Synod,  as  the  Synod  of  Nice  was,  in  any 
proper  or  historical  statement  of  the  facts  of  the  two  ca- 
ses; one  being  a  council  of  the  reformed  churches,   about 
things  not  specially  relating  to  the  papacy;   the  other  of 
Christian  churches  before  the  origin  ofthe  apostacy. — 
The  creeds  ofthe  early  councils  were  intended  to  settle 
the  doctrine  of  the  church  of  God,  principally  in  regard 
to  the  person  of  Christ;  those  of  the  modern  reformed  bo- 
dies first  issued,  settled  the  creed   ofthe  church  of  God 
in  regard  chiefly,  to  the  work  of  Christ.      In  the   former 
creeds  the  oriental  churches  took  the  lead — and  the  pa- 
pacy had  no  other  part  but  to  substitute  glosses,  and  cor- 
rupt the  spirit  of  the   doctrine,  from  the  moment  of  her 
apostacy.     In  the  latter,  the  western  churches  acted;  and 
in  regard  to  them,  the  papacy  participated  only  so  far  as 
she  had  power  to  kill  the  saints,  to  resist  the  truth,  and 
to  fill  the  earth  with  darkness  and  blood.      Standing  at 
an  immeasurable  distance  from  the  real  spirit  of  both  sets 
of  confessions,  and  of  all  the  churches  wThich  produced 
them;  she  holds  forth  in  her  clenched  andpolluted  hands, 
the  creed  of  Trent — which  is  her  only  authorised   and 
19* 


222  CREED  OF  THE   CHURCH   OF  ROME; 

veritable  confession  of  faith;  and  which,  like  herself 
amongst  nominal  churches,  is  the  most  unreasonable,  un- 
scriplural,  erroneous,  and  corrupt,  of  all  that  ever  exist- 
ed under  the  name  of  Christian.  This  is  the  recorded 
evidence  and  summary  at  once,  of  her  absolute  and  final 
apostacy  from  God;  and  the  more  she  urges  it  upon  the 
church  of  Christ,  the  greater  is  its  conviction  thai  she  is 
the  synagogue  of  Satan;  and  the  stronger  are  her  denun- 
ciations against  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  tor  their 
steadfast  refusal  to  sell  God's  truth  for  the  most  absurd 
and  profitless  of  all  lies,  the  clearer  is  the  evidence,  that 
she  is  guided  by  the  spirit  of  Antichrist,  and  hastening  in 
the  footsteps  of  the  son  of  perdition! 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  suppose  a  human  creed,  as  be- 
ing first  perfectly  made,  and  after  that  a  church  to  match 
it.  Systems  of  opinion  are  of  slow  growth,  when  great 
masses  of  men  are  to  concur  in  them.  But  this  is  equal- 
ly true  of  the  church  of  Christ  as  of  the  church  of  Rome; 
equally  of  the  western  as  of  the  oriental  churches.  So 
that  whatever  advantage  of  this  kind  may  be  demanded 
and  allowed  to  the  church  which  holds  the  creed  of  Pius 
IV.,  and  which  we  admit  existed  and  believed  portions 
of  that  creed,  for  above  a  thousand  years  before  it  was 
pujt  into  form;  the  very  same  advantage,  on  the  very  same 
principles,  must  be  allowed  to  all  the  reformed  churches 
— which  we  trace  with  perfect  clearness,  in  their  memo- 
rials, their  fidelity,  their  sufferings,  and  their  blood  shed 
by  Rome — even  from  the  days  of  the  apostles  of  the 
Lord.  It  is  readily  admitted,  for  example,  that  the  pa- 
pal sect  may  have  worshipped  the  consecrated  wafer — for 
a  considerable  period  before  we  find  the  public  and  set- 
tled proof  that  this  gross  departure  from  primitive  Chris- 
tianity, was  generally  received  amongst  them.  But  the 
same  mode  of  investigation  obliges  us  to  allow,  that  the 
churches  of  Christ  which  protested  against  this  foolish 
and  brutal  idolatry,  had  also,  and  for  a  period  at  least 
equally  extended,  been  firmly  settled  in  their  better  and 
purer  faith.  When  Rome  has  found  occasion  to  add  a 
chapter  to  her  creed,  enforcing  some  horrible  dogma; the 
church  of  God  has  also  had  occasion  to  add  to  the  pub- 
lic evidences  of  her  mode  of  understanding  divine  truth, 


HER  DILEMMA  AND  IMPOSTURE.  223 

some  formal  testimony;  and  in  all  such  cases,  the  force 
of  such  proof  would  he  precisely  equal — if  it  were  not 
that  as  the  great  starting  point  of  both,  \ix:  the  Lord 
Jesus,  his  apostles  and  his  word,  arc  all  with  us  and 
against  Rome;  so  every  conclusion  must  be  for  our  anti- 
quity and  against  hers,  for  our  purity  and  for  her  corrup- 
tion. Thus,  to  illustrate  by  the  example  already  used; 
as  there  is  nothing  in  the  word  of  God  allowing  the 
worship  of  the  consecrated  wafer,  the  inference  is  irrest- 
ible  that  they  who  refuse  to  worship  it,  are  more  likely 
to  agree  with  the  Bible  than  those  who  worship  it;  that  is, 
they  are  pure  and  the  others  corrupt  in  faith.  And  for 
the  very  same  reason, — when  we  find  that  in  the  twelfth, 
tenth,  or  eighth  century  after  Christ,  the  Romanists  wor- 
shipped the  consecrated  wafer  and  the  Christians  refused 
to  do  it,— the  Bible  being  silent  on  the  subject;  the  con- 
clusion cannot  be  resisted,  that  the  Christians  had  always 
refused  to  worship  it,  and  that  the  Papists  had  lately,  or 
at  least  long  since  the  Bible  was  given,  commenced  the 
practice.  And  if  the  Bible,  instead  of  being  silent,  is 
positive  and  clear  for  us,  and  against  Rome — as  in  fact 
it  is;  then  that  which  was  violently  probable  before — be- 
comes certain;  and  the  purity  and  antiquity  of  our  faith, 
and  the  novelty  and  corruption  of  that  of  Rome-— are  abso- 
lutely established. 

In  our  present  proof  that  the  authorised  creed  of  Rome 
is  amongst  the  very  youngest  of  all  existing  creeds,  true 
or  false,  we  shall  omit  the  three  first  eras  of  the  church  of 
God,  in  that  great  compass  of  centuries  which  follow  the 
last  of  the  true  general  councils;  and  confine  ourselves  to 
the  fourth  and  last  era  only.  We  will  bring  nothing 
from  the  era  that  preceded  the  great  Celtic  attempt  at  re- 
formation in  the  south  of  Europe;  nothing  from  the  era 
between  that  glorious  but  unfortunate  attempt  and  the 
Sclavonic  effort  at  reformation  in  the  east  of  Europe; 
nothing  from  the  era  between  that  and  the  reformation  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  in  central  Europe.  It  is  from  the 
fourth  era  only,  the  era  following  the  reformation  of  Lu- 
ther, that  we  at  present  draw  our  proofs.  And  recent 
in  comparison,  as  this  event  is,  when  put  in  contrast  with 
the  arrogant  pretensions  of  Rome;  we  will  show  beyond 


224        (REED  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME; 

die  possibility  of  cavil,  that  the  authorised  creeds  of  Pro- 
testantism, arc  older  than  the  authorised  creed  of  Rome! 
The  Corpus  et  Syntagma  Confessionum,  of  which  we 

have  spoken  before,  contains  thirteen  creeds,  issued  by 
the  reformed  churches,  in  the  midst  of  their  contentions 
with  Rome,  in  the  sixteenth  century.  We  will  briefly 
set  down  the  names  and   dates  of  these    (  reeds;    altering 

the  method  of  the  learned  and  accurate  Gaspar  Laui 
tins,  for  one  more  nearly  chronological.      We  have  con- 
sulted a   multitude  of  authors,    embracing  nearly   all  the 
original  authorities;  and  believe  every  material  statement 
may  be  considered  inexpugnable. 

I.  The  Confession  of  Augsburg;  presented  to  the  Em- 
peror Charles  V.,  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  in  1530, 
by  John,  duke  and  elector  of  Saxony,  George,  mar- 
quis of  Brandenburg,  Earnest,  duke  of  Lunenburg, 
Philip,  landrave  of  Hesse,  John  Frederick,  duke  of 
Saxony,  Francis,  duke  of  Lunenburg,  Wolfgang, 
prince  of  Anhalt,  the  Senate  and  Magistrates  of 
Nurenburg,  and  the  Senate  of  Reutlengen;  whose 
names  are  subscribed  to  the  copy  before  us.  This  con- 
fession was  originally  drawn  up  by  Philip  .Melancthon; 
but,  de  improviso,  as  he  expresses  himself,  in  his  apolo- 
gy. It  was  presented  to  the  emperor  Ferdinand,  in 
Diets  of  the  Empire,  in  1558  and  1561.  It  is  the  creed 
of  the  Lutheran  body  generally. 

II.  The  Confession  of  the  Four  Cities,  viz.,  of  Stras- 
burg  (anciently  called  Argentina — whence  the  Confes- 
sion Argentine,)  Constance,  Memmengen,  and  Lindeau; 
whose  ambassadors  presented  it  to  the  emperor  Charles 
V.,  at  the  same  diet,  as  the  Augsburg  Confession;  viz., 
in  1530.  It  embraces  twenty-three  chapters,  besides  a 
preface,  introduction,  and  peroration. 

III.  The  Confession  of  Basle,  or  Mullhau sen;  publish- 
ed in  1532,  by  the  former  city,  and  embraced  by  the 
latter,  in  1561. 

IV.  The  Bohemian  Confession;  compiled  from  the 
ancient  confessions  of  the  Waldenses,  and  submitted  to 
Luther,  Melancthon,  and  the  University  of  Wittemburg, 
in  1532;  afterwards  approved  by  Vergerius,  by  Bucer, 
by  Musculus,  fcc.J  presented  by  the  barons   and  nobles 


HER    DI1.I.MMA    AM)    IMPOSTURE.  225 

of  Bohemia,  to  king  Ferdinand  at  Vienna,    in  1535. 
This  is  the  creed   of  thai  church  which  has  for  so  many 

-   before,  and  so  dreadfully  even  since  this  creed  was 

Composed,  Suffered  under  the  cruel  persecutions  of  Koine. 
Y.  The  Helvetic  Confession;  this  ancient  and  remark- 
able confession  was  drawn  up  by  a  convention  from  the 
evangelical  cities  and  churches  of  Switzerland,  in  lfj.'JG  ; 
Henry  Bullinger,  Oswald  Myconius,  Simon  Gryneeus, 
together  with  Capito  and  Bucer,  were  its  original  com- 
pilers. It  was  adopted  by  all  the  churches  of  Switzerland; 
it  was  sent  by  the  hands  of  Capito  and  Bucer  to  Wittem- 
burg,  and  there  approved;  as  it  was  afterwards  by  the  Pro- 
testant princes  at  Sinalcald  ;  it  was  formally  approved 
by  the  churches  of  England,  Scotland,  France,  and  Hol- 
land ;  and  by  many  of  those  of  Poland,  Hungary,  and 
Germany.  It  is  the  combined  work  of  Zuinglians  and 
Calvinists  ;  and  may  perhaps  be  considered  as  having 
the  same  relation  to  the  former,  as  the  Augsburg  Confes- 
sion has  to  the  Lutherans. 

VI.  The  Saxon  Confession;  drawn  up  in  the  year  1551, 
at  the  Synod  of  Wittemburg ;  and  sent  to  the  council  of 
Trent,  then  in  session.  The  copy  before  us  is  subscribed 
by  John  Bugexhagen,  Martin  Wolfius,  Joachim 
Camerarius,  Philip  Melancthon,  and  twenty-seven 
others,  pastors,  professors  and  doctors ;  after  whose 
names  follow  acts  of  adhesion  by  divers  princes  and 
churches.  This  confession  may  be  considered  a  more 
mature  reiteration,  by  different  persons  in  part,  and  under 
different  circumstances,  of  the  general  sentiments  of  that 
of  Augsburg. 

VII.  The  Confession  of  Wirtemburg;  this  also  was 
sent  to  the  council  of  Trent,  before  whom  it  was  laid  on 
the  24th  of  January,  1552,  by  order  of  Christopher,  duke 
of  Wirtemburg  ;  as  containing  the  creed  of  the  reformed 
churches  in  his  dominions. 

VIII.  The  French  Confession;  drawn  up  in  the  synod 
of  Paris,  in  the  year  1559,  in  the  midst  of  persecution 
and  affliction.  It  was  presented  by  Theodore  Beza  to 
king  Charles  IX.,  at  the  Colloquy  of  Poissy,  in  1561, 
in  the  name  of  the  churches  of  France.  Three  originals 
of  it  were  at  first  made,  on  account  of  the  violence  of  the 


2'2()  CREED  OF  THE   CHURCH  OF  ROME, 

times,  and  the  fear  of  its  destruction  ;  of  which  one  was 
sent  to  Geneva,  and  perhaps  is  still  preserved  in  its 
archives,  one  of  the  grandest  monuments  of  the  glory 
of  that  city;  for  the  confession  was  the  work  of  her  own 
illustrious  Calvin,  It  was  signed  by  the  queen  of  Na- 
varre; by  her  Bon5  afterwards  Henry  IV.,  king  of 
France;  by  the  prince  of  Condi;:  by  Louis,  counl  of 
Nassau;  by  Caspar  Coligxy,  admiral  of  France;  and 
by  the  pastors  and  elders,  who  sat  in  that  synod. 
Amongst  the  famous  signatures  to  the  exemplar  before 
us,  (added,  we  presume  at  the  synod  of  Rochelle,  in 
1561)  are  those  of  Beza,  Chandieu,  du  Moulin,  Arnaud, 
Banc,  and  others  ;  to  the  number,  in  all,  of  twenty-seven 
representatives  of  the  churches  and  departments.  This 
creed  still  continues  to  be  the  symbol  of  the  reformed 
church  of  France.  The  reader  who  has  any  taste  for 
such  studies,  is  particularly  referred  to  Quick's  Synodicon, 
in  which  the  developement  of  this  interesting  creed  and 
church,  is  traced  through  the  original  memorials  ;  a  work 
which  every  student  of  ecclesiastical  history  ought  to  be 
ashamed  to  confess  he  had  not  studied. 

IX.  The  Belgic  Confession;  prepared  and  published 
in  French,  in  L561,  as  an  exposition  of  the  faith  of  the 
persecuted  churches  of  Flanders,  Artois,  and  Hainault  ; 
confirmed  and  published  in  Dutch,  by  the  Belgic  Synod 
of  1579;  and  then  in  Latin  in  1581.  Five  articles  of 
this  creed,  viz.,  1.  Divine  Predestination.  2.  The 
death  of  Christ  and  the  redemption  of  man.  3.  Man's 
corruption.  4.  The  method  of  conversion  to  God.  5. 
The  perseverance  of  the  saints  ;  were  the  subjects  of  the 
great  doctrinal  controversy  in  Holland  in  the  early  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century, and  of  the  decrees  of  the  famous 
synod  of  Dort  held  in  16 IS  and  1619.  The  canons  of 
that  illustrious  synod,  in  the  copy  before  us,  are  signed 
by  representatives  from  the  churches,  provinces  and  free 
cities  of  Holland,  and  by  those  from  eight  foreign  com- 
monwealths, members  of  the  synod.  These  names, 
amounting  to  above  eighty,  to  which  are  added  a  num- 
ber of  others  of  the  rulers  of  the  provinces — embrace 
many  of  the  most  illustrious  divines  and  scholars  of  that 
age,  throughout  Europe  ;  who,  after  the  most  careful  ami 


HER  DILEMMA  AND   IMPOSTURE.  227 

deliberate    investigation,  and  aftei  solemnly  sweaiing  to 
deeide  only  a<  to  what  they  should  judge  to  be 

taught  in  the  word  oi   God  ;  unanimousl)  approved  and 

scribed  these  clear,  moderate,  evangelical,  but  m 
ibullv  misrepresented  decisions.  We  recommend  to  the 
reader,  a  small  volume  published  at  Utica,  L831,  con- 
taining Di\  Thomas  Scott's  translation  and  observations 
on  the  articles  and  events  of  this  synod  ;  to  which  is 
added  by  the  anonymous  editor,  A  Harmony  of  the  Can* 
fessions,  «Sv.,  in  which  Jive  of  the  confessions  mentioned 
in  tins  list,  and  seven  more  modern,  are  collated  on  a 
number  of  the  leading  doctrines  of  Christianity.  The 
Belgic  Confession)  is  to  this  day  the  symbol  of  the  Dutch 
rmed  churches  in  all  quarters  of  the  earth. 

X.  The  English  Confession;  in  15-17,  Cranmer  set 
forth  twelve  homilies)  the  liturgy  was  compiled  in  1548, 
by  Cranmer,  Somerset,  Ridly,  and  Peter  Martyr,  from  the 
Missals  of  Sarum,  Bangor,  York,  Hereford  and  Lincoln, 
and  revised  and  corrected  by  Bucer,  in  1551;  but  before 
this,  in  1536,  the  Convocation  had  agreed  on  five  articles 
concerning  faith,  and  five  concerning  ceremonies;  the 
'articles  of  faith ,'  were  composed  in  1552,  and  the  Cate- 
chism in  1553.  But  in  1562,  under  Elizabeth,  the  work 
was  completed,  by  the  adoption  and  publication,  by  the 
convocation,  called  the  Synod  of  London;  when  the 
Thirty  Nine  Articles,  JeicelVs  Apology,  and  NoweWs 
Catechism,  were  aproved  and  published;  the  first  to  pre- 
serve the  internal  union  of  the  church  in  doctrine  and 
worship;  the  second  against  the  calumnies  of  the  Papists: 
and  the  third  to  imbue  the  minds  of  youth  with  pure 
principles.  Humphrey,  in  Vita  Jeicelli,  p.  177.  says  the 
Jipology  was  "approved  by  the  Queen,  published  by  the 
counsel  of  all  the  bishops  and  other  clergy,  as  it  was  also 
composed  and  written  by  the  author,  as  the  public  con- 
fession of  the  Catholic  and  Christian  faith  of  the  En- 
glish church,  in  which  is  taught  our  agreement  with  the 
German,  Helvetic,  French,  Scotch,  Genevese  and  other 
pure  churches."  This  is  important  to  remember,  a^  the 
English  was  the  only  thoroughly  Prelatical  church  of  the 
reformation;  and  as  these  venerable  standards  thus  com- 
pletely imbued  with  the  spirit  of  that  glorious  era,    still 


228  CREED  01  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME; 

remain  the  symbols  of  that  church,  and  substantially  oi 
all  those  affiliated  to  her.     Divine   right  goes  hack  only 

to  that  bloody  bigot  Archbishop  Laid;  and  Puscyism 
is  but  of  yesterdaj . 

XL   Confession  of  the  Peletinate;  published  by  John 
Casimiii,  Count  Palatine  of  the  Rhine  and  Duke  of  Ba- 

varia,  as  containing  the  faith  of  the  churches  in  his  do- 
minions; but  was  drawn  up  under  the  eye,  if  not  by  the 
hand  of  his  illustrious  lather  Frederick  111.,  Elector 
Palatine,  &c;  and  by  him  avouched  and  proclaimed  in 
the  Diet  of  the  German  Empire,  in  1566. 

XII.  The  Scottish  Confession;  the  Protestant  church 
in  Scotland  began  to  assume  a  regular  form  about  the 
year  1560,  by  the  labours  chiefly  of  John  Knox,  the 
friend  and  disciple  of  Calvin;  during  that  year  the  re- 
formers sent  a  petition  and  confession  to  the  Scotch  Par- 
liament, containing  a  statement  of  their  doctrines,  with  a 
protestation  against  the  errors  of  Rome.  The  first  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  kirk  in  Scotland  met  on  the  20th  of 
December,  1561;  and  the  same  year,  the  First  Book  of 
Discipline,  composed  by  Knox,  was  presented  to  the  Con- 
vention of  Estates.  The  received  Confession  of  Faith, 
was  published  in  the  vulgar  tongue  in  1568;  and  was 
solemnly  adopted  in  Parliament,  as  the  national  faith,  in 
the  year  1580.  The  Covenant  was  adopted  by  the  Scot- 
tish king,  nobles,  clergy,  church  and  nation,  in  1588; 
wras  revived  in  1638;  and  was  accepted  by  the  English 
Parliament,  church  and  people,  in  1643.  In  June  of  this 
last  named  year,  the  famous  Assembly  of  Divines  met  at 
Westminster;  it  was  called  by  the  Long  Parliament  of 
England,  equally  out  of  all  the  counties  of  that  kingdom, 
and  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  divines— to 
whom  ten  peers  and  twenty  commoners  were  added  by 
Parliament;  and  afterwards  a  few  commissioners  from 
Scotland  wrere  incorporated  with  the  body.  The  stand- 
ards of  doctrine,  church  order,  and  discipline  agreed  on 
by  this  illustrious  Assembly,  were  approved  by  the  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  England  and  Scotland; 
and  remain  to  this  day  the  professed  standards  of  all  the 
Presbyterian  churches  throughout  the  world,  that  speak 
the  English   language;   and   which   unitedly    constitute, 


HER  DILEMMA  AND  IMPOSTURE.  229 

perhaps,  the  most  extended,  united,  and  efficient  portion 
of  the  Protestant  churches. 

XI I T.  The  Polish  Confession;  agreed  to  with  unani- 
mous consent,  in  the  Synod  of  Ozenger  ;  to  which  was 
added  the  Conciliafo  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  agreed  on  in 
the  General  Synod  of  Sendomir  in  the  year  1570,  by  the 
evangelical  ministers  of  the  Helvetic  Confession,  of  the 
Augsburg  Confession,  and  of  the  ancient  Waldenses, 
scattered  through  Great  and  Little  Poland,  Lituania  and 
Samagitia;  and  at  the  same  time,  and  by  the  same  au- 
thority, a  brief  Confession  of  the  Mediator.  These  con- 
fessions and  acts  were  confirmed,  and  embraced  by  vari- 
ous general  synods,  as  those  of  Wladislau,  Cracow,  Xan- 
sen,  Petercau,  Torunen,  &c.  &c;  in  the  subscriptions  to 
which  are  found  the  names  of  all  the  great  lights  of  the 
early  Polish  churches. 

We  offer  no  apology  to  the  reader  for  this  long  and 
minute  array  of  facts.  Indeed  we  rather  suppose,  that 
unless  his  knowledge  is  far  greater,  or  his  curiosity  far 
less  than  is  common,  he  will  thank  us  for  the  labour  and 
time  bestowed  in  gathering  and  setting  them  in  order. 

Looking  at  this  phalanx  of  churches  and  nations,  there 
are  three  points  of  very  great  interest,  and  of  some  im- 
portance in  the  present  argument  to  which  we  call  atten- 
tion for  a  moment.  The  first  is,  the  agreement  of  these 
creeds  amongst  themselves;  the  second,  their  accordance 
with,  or  at  least  their  estimate  of  the  ancient  creeds  of 
which  we  have  spoken  in  the  forepart  of  this  paper;  and 
the  third,  their  repugnance  to  the  creed  of  Pius  IV. — the 
creed  of  Rome.  In  regard  to  the  first  of  these  points, 
we  need  only  say,  every  scholar  knows  that  all  the  re- 
formed churches  considered  their  general  agreement  in 
fundamental  truth  not  only  real,  but  indispensable;  while 
every  true  child  of  God  has  sweet  and  indwelling  expe- 
rience, that  there  is,  of  a  truth,  allowred  to  us  here  below, 
a  fellowship  one  with  another,  as  long  as  we  walk  in 
light. —  (1  John  i.  7.)  To  any  wrho  may  have  neither 
this  knowledge  nor  experience,  we  add,  that  a  Harmony 
and  Concordance  of  these  thirteen  Confessions,  digested 
into  articles  embracing  the  principal  heads  of  religion, 
have  been  actually  and  long  ago  formed;  of  which  one, 
20 


230  CREED   OF    THE    CHURCH   OF   ROME; 

Containing  thirteen  articles,  thus  digested,   is  printed   in 
the  beginning  of  the  Corpus  et  Syntagma^  several   I  • 

referred  to.  On  the  second  head  of  the  three  above  stat- 
ed, we  cite  as  examples  only,  that  the  Confession  and 
Exposition  of  the  Swiss  churches,  towards  the  end  of  the 
xi.  chapter,  adopts  the  symbols  of  Nice,  Constantinople, 
Ephesus  and  Chalcedott,  with  that  of  Athanasius,  all  bj 
name,  and  again  still  more  expressly,  towards  tie-  close 
of  the  xvii.  chap.,  the  apostles'  creed;  that  the  French 
Confession,  in  its  v.  section,  names  and  approves  the 
apostles',  the  Nicene,  and  the  Athanasian  creed;  that  tht 
English  Confession  does  the  same  thing  in  its  viii.  arti- 
cle; and  that  the  Confession  of  the  Palatinate,  after  doing 
the  same  thing,  repeats  and  largely  paraphrases  the  apos- 
tles5 creed,  as  the  particular  expression  of  its  own  faith. 
And  as  to  the  third  point,  a  fair  and  minute  comparison 
of  the  Protestant  confessions  with  that  of  Rome,  will 
show  that  they  differ  from  it  irreconcileably,  1.  As  to  the 
object  of  religious  worship;  2.  As  to  what  is  the  word  oi 
God;  3.  As  to  the  authority  of  Scripture;  4.  As  to  the  na- 
ture, constitution,  authority,  and  objects  of  the  church  of 
Christ;  5.  As  to  the  nature,  the  penalty,  and  the  remis- 
sion of  sin;  6.  As  to  the  mode  of  access  to  God;  7.  As  to 
the  nature  and  means  of  regeneration,  sanctification,  and 
practical  holiness  of  heart  and  life;  8.  As  to  the  future 
state  of  the  dead.  These  are  samples  only;  and  it  must 
be  confessed,  every  one  of  the  points  stated  is  fundamen- 
tal in  all  religion,  and  vital  in  the  Christian  system. 

Now  for  this  venerable  standard  of  Rome, — this  creed 
of  Pins  IV.  We  have  before  our  eyes,  the  Canons  and 
Decrees,  in  Latin,  of  the  most  holy  and  cecuminical  tri- 
dentine  council.  The  edition  is  that  of  Brussels  1688, 
in  24rno.;  published  summa  privilegii.  From  this  we 
find  that  the  first  session  of  the  council  was  held  on  the 
L3th  of  December,  1545;  and  father  Paid  tells  us  this 
session  was  principally  taken  up  with  singing  a  mass 
to  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  find  that  the  creed  repeated  in 
the  third  session]  celebrated  on  the  4th  of  February,  1546, 
was  word  lor  word  the  creed  of  the  first  council  of  Con- 
stantinople, which  was  the  third  general  council;  a  creed 
nearly  identical  with    that  of  Nice.      We   find  that    the 


RER  DILEMMA   AND   IMPOSTURE.  2     1 

twenty-  fifth  and  last  session  of  the  council  was  held  on 
the  third  and  fourth  days  of  December,  1563 — about 
eighteen  years  after  the  first  session;  and  that  the  council 
broke  up  cursing  all  heretics  in  the  gross,  and  by  accla- 
mation: a  work  which  father  Paul  tells  us  the  cardinal  of 
Lorraine  of  the  bloody  house  of  Guise,  was  the  loudest  and 
heartiest  of  all  the  lathers,  in  performing.  We  have  be- 
fore said  that  the  Bull  of  confirmation  of  the  council  was 
<d  on  the  26th  of  January,  1564;  that  Bull,  occupy- 
ing seven  pages,  is  printed  at  the  end  of  the  Decrees  and 
Canons,  and  is  signed  by  Pius  IV.,  and  by  twenty  six 
cardinals,  making  the  consistory  in  which  the  approval 
Was  recorded. 

But  let  the  reader  remark,  that  although  the  canons  and 
ent  form  the  basis  of  the  Roman  creed;  they 
are  not  that  very  creed  itself.  On  the  night  of  December 
24th,  1559,  John  Angelo  de  Medici  was  elected  pope; 
and  afterwards  took  the  name  of  Pius  IV.  This  man, 
says  John  Jewell,  bishop  of  Sarum,  one  of  the  best  and 
most  learned  men  of  his  day — became  pope  by  corrupt- 
ing the  cardinals,  purchasing  votes,  and  undermining 
his  rivals;  and  when  pope,  imprisoned  and  murdered 
cardinal  Caraffa,  who  had  been  his  tool  in  rising;  in 
short,  that  he  was  a  simoniacal  pope,  a  heretic,  and  a 
man  of  blood.  This  John  Jkngelo  de  .Medici,  drew  up  and 
recorded  in  the  apostolic  chancery,  on  the  9th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1564,  a  Bull,  entitled  Super  forma  juramenta  profes- 
sions fidei,  and  beginning,  Injunctum  nobis,  »S*c.;  which 
contains  and  sets  forth  the  present  true,  real  and  only  dis- 
tinctive public  and  authorised  creed  of  the  holy  Catholic, 
Roman  and  apostolic  church — the  mother  and  mistress  of 
churches!  A  creed  as  enormous  in  substance,  as  it  is 
unauthorised  in  its  origin;  a  creed  at  once  novel,  schis- 
matical  and  corrupt,  proving  the  fact  and  establishing  the 
period  of  the  complete  and  final  apostacy  of  the  church 
of  Rome;  but  whether  true  or  false,  much  later  than  most 
of  the  creeds  of  the  reformation — younger  than  man] 
them  by  at  least  a  generation! 

This  argument,  like  the  one  that  preceded  it,  seems  to  us 
perfectly  conclusive.  And  if  we  are  capable  of  apprecia- 
ting the  force  of  truth,  the  two  together  irresistibly  es- 


233       ELIZA  ANN  O'NEAL,  AND  HER  RESCUED  CHILD. 

tablish;  1.  That  if  Rome  gives  a  true  account  of  herself, 
she  is  involved  in  an  inextricable  dilemma  with  respect 
to  her  creed:  2.  That  the  true  state  of  the  case  establish- 
es upon  her,  the  most  gross  and  insolent  imposture  in 
regard  to  the  whole  subject. 

We  commend  the  ease  to  the  consideration  of  Protest- 
ants, that  they  may  see  how  strong  and  noble  a  cause 
is  theirs;  and  to  rapists,  that  they  may  discover  how- 
idle  and  unfounded  are  the  delusions  to  which  the]  trust, 
and  how  just  is  the  scorn  with  which  right  reason  and 
true  learning,  never  cease  to  regard  the  impudent  char- 
latanism of  their  priests. 


NUMBER    XXV. 

ELIZA  ANN  O'NEAL,  AND  HER  RESCUED  CHILD. 

The  statement  published  below,  appeared  in  the  Sun 
newspaper,  of  the  27th  of  July  (1839.)  That  paper  i> 
the  most  extensively  circulated,  of  any  published  in  Bal- 
timore; and  being  a  penny  paper  circulates  amongst  those 
portions  of  our  population  from  which  our  more  pretend- 
ing six  pennies,  are  excluded.  The  reader  will  observe 
also,  that  the  statement  is  sworn  to,  and  the  signature  of 
a  city  magistrate  added.  It  is  impossible  therefore,  but 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  transaction  thus  made  public, 
must  have  reached  all  directly  interested  in  it;  if  not  the 
entire  Baltimore  community.  After  the  lapse  of  a  month, 
no  denial  is  published  on  the  part  of  the  Papists;  whence 
we  conclude  the  statement  is  true. 

No  notice  whatever  is  taken  of  the  audacious  conduct 
of  the  Papists,  by  any  of  our  city  papers;  nor  by  papers 
published  elsewhere,  so  far  as  we  have  observed  or  heard; 
and  the  statement  appeared  in  the  Sun,  as  an  adrer/ise- 
ment!  What  free,  independent,  disinterested,  vigilant, 
and  Christian-like  guardians  of  public   virtue,  order  and 


ELIZA  ANN  O'NEAL,  AND  HER  RESCUED  CHILD. 

freedom,  our  newspaper  conductors  are!  A  public  insti- 
tution attempts  by  fraud  and  violence  to  retain  the  ille- 
gal possession  of  a  child,  against  its  own  and  only  pa- 
rent; and  this  avowedly  upon  principles  of  religions  pro- 
selytism  and  intolerance,  alike  insulting  to  the  public 
faith,  and  contemptuous  to  the  public  authorities;  and  not 
a  voice  is  raised  to  vindicate  religion,  to  uphold  the  ma- 
jesty of  the  law,  or  to  enforce  the  sacred  claims  of  nature 
herself!  Oh!  land  to  be  pited,  where  vice  no  longer 
fears  either  punishment  or  exposure;  where  the  friends  of 
virtue  regard  with  indifference  or  at  least  in  silerlce,  the 
most  atrocious  violations  of  her  firmest  safeguards. 

This  is  the  fifth  or  sixth  case  in  which  some  of  the  Pa- 
pists of  Baltimore  have  attempted  to  possess  themselves 
of  the  female  children  of  Protestants — by  fraud,  force,  or 
seduction,  within  six  years.  The  one  immediately  pre- 
ceding this, — the  case  of  Eliza  Burns,  was  foiled  by 
the  great  diligence  and  promptitude  of  the  child's  friends. 
Our  readers  will  remember  the  case,  as  we  published  sev- 
eral articles  about  it;  and  we  are  not  likely  to  forget  it,  as 
General  Williamson  and  young  Mr.  Tiernan  threatened 
to  put  us  to  death,  for  our  share  in  rescuing  the  orphan; 
even  although  it  was  done  by  due  process  of  law.  (See 
pp.  137--59  of  this  vol.)  Here  again  the  benevolence  of 
the  priests  and  nuns,  and  the  most  pious  intentions  of 
their  male  and  female  coadjutors  in  society,  have  been 
rendered  abortive;  and  now  by  rather  a  shorter  process. 
The  mother  very  properly  went  and  took  her  child. 

And  must  we  constantly  remind  the  Papists,  that  the 
reformed  in  Baltimore  are  four  to  their  one;  and  that 
while  it  is  unreasonable  to  expect  four  men  to  be  fright- 
ened by  one,  it  is  still  more  absurd  in  the  weaker  party  to 
provoke  a  just  indignation  by  ceaseless  outrages,  and  to 
put  to  naught  their  own  best  safeguard,  namely  strict 
obedience  to  law?  The  newspapers  may  be  muzzled  by 
their  patronage,  or  the  fear  of  losing  it;  politicians  by 
their  votes,  or  the  danger  of  not  getting  them.  But  the 
mass  of  men  seek  no  offices,  own  no  newspapers,  have 
no  favors  to  ask,  and  dispise  all  attempts  at  intimidation. 
This  great  mass  of  Protestant  men,  and  as  the  present 
case  showrs,  women  too — has  borne  already  more  than 
20* 


234   ELIZA  ANN  O'NEAL,  ANT)  HER  RESCUED  CHILD- 

ever  was  borne  before  in  any  other  land,  with  an  insult- 
ing,  domineering,  superstitious  minority;  who  under  the 
dictation  of  corrupt  and  insolent  ecclesiastics,  lose  no 
occasion  of  doing  acts,  which  are  intolerable;  and  which 
indicate  what  is  to  be  expected,  as  they  get  more 
and  more  foothold  amongst  us.  We  advocate  the 
strictest  obedience  to  law;  therefore  we  are  for  obliging 
those  who  thus  dispise  and  violate  it,  to  keep  it  towa 

Others,  while  they  enjoy  its  protec  Hon  the  m sel \  I ■>.  And 
therefore,  cordially  rejoice,  at  every  proof  that  the  com- 
munity will  no  longer  tolerate  the  audacious  transgres- 
sions, to  which  the  priests  and  nuns  have  been  accus- 
tomed. 


TO    THE     CITIZENS    OF    BALTIMORE. 

The  following  statement  of  facts  is  respectfully  submitted  to  the  citizens 
of  Baltimore,  for  their  consideration: — 

Tn  the  spring  of  1829,  I  resided  in  Buren  street,  near  the  jail,  at  that 
time  I  was  dreadfully  afflicted  with  the  inflammatory  rheumatism,  to  so 
deplorable  an  extent  that  I  had  but  little  hope  of  recovery — was  obliged 
to  break  up  housekeeping,  and,  by  the  advice  of  a  physician,  remove 
into  the  country.  I  had  two  children  at  that  time,  who  are  still  livins: 
one  of  them  I  determined  to  take  with  me,  and  a  lady  of  the  Protestant 
profession  hearing  of  my  severe  afflicted  state,  came  to  my  residence,  and 
kindly  offered  to  take  the  other  child,  (a  little  girl,)  educate  and  raise  her 
as  her  own,  to  which  I  consented.  A  Catholic  lady  of  my  acquaintance, 
hearing  this,  came  to  my  house,  and  insisted  positively  that  the  lady 
should  not  have  the  child;  that  she  valued  her  soul  more  than  ten  thous- 
and worlds,  and  said  that  she  could  and  would  get  her  into  the  Female 
Orphan  Asylum  as  a  boarder,  and  that  she  would  pay  her  board.  She 
promised  me  faithfully  that  I  should  have  my  child  again,  in  case  of  my 
recovery,  (of  this  fact  I  have  witness,)  statmg  at  the  same  time  that  the 
child  should  never  be  bound  out  from  that  institution.  I  finally  consent- 
ed to  resign  my  child  to  the  Catholic  lady,  in  consideration  of  this  pro- 
mise, and  she  was  accordingly  entered  as  a  boarder  in  that  institution. 

After  several  years  of  severe  affliction,  I  fortunately  partially  recover- 
ed my  health,  and  believing  myself  to  be  capable  of  taking  care  of  mv 
child  again,  I  determined  to  take  her  with  me  to  Virginia.  J  made  ap- 
plication for  my  daughter  at  the  institution,  to  the  Sister  Superior,  in  the 
month  of  June,  1838.  The  Sister  informed  me  that  they  were  not  per- 
mitted to  leave  the  institution  until  they  had  made  their  first  communion, 
and  that  my  daughter  would  make  it  in  1839,  at  which  time  I  could  have 
her.  With  this  statement  1  was  perfectly  satisfied,  and  returned  to  the 
country. 

Last  May,  I  again  came  to  Baltimore,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  my 
daughter  home  with  me.  On  applying  this  second  time,  a  similar  state- 
ment was  made,  with  the  additional  information  that  my  daughter  had 
not  made  her  first  Communion,  was  net  at  preseut  pious  enough  to  do  so, 
and  that  it  was  postponed  until  another  year. 


ESCAPE  OF  A   NUN,  &C.  235 

My  daughter  hearing  this  fftl  much  grieved,  and  requested  me  to  wait 
On  the  ladies  who  constitute  the  Board  of  Directors.      In  accordance  with 

my  child's  wish,  I  waited  on  Mrs.   i  iernao9and  ihe  tdvited  me  to  wait 
on  the  Board,  stating  thai  there  «ras  no  doubt  that  they  would  give  me  my 

ehUd,  and  treating  mo  with  irreat  Kindness  and  politeness.  I  DCZt  waited 
on  the  Hoard,  (the  1st  Monday  in  July,  I  think  it  was,)  I  stated  my  wish 
to  them;  thev  questioned  me  as  to  who  was  my  father  confessor;  I  told 
them  that  I  did  not  confess  to  any  person.  Tie  \  m  \t  enquired  w  ho  was 
my  teacher;  I  answered  that  God  was  my  teacher.  The  President  of  the 
Board  then  remarked,  that  I  was  a  pretty  woman  to  raise  a  child,  and 
that  I  was  not  tit  to  have  her — in  which  sentiments  the  other  ladies 
thought  proper  to  express  their  concurrence.  I  told  them  that  1  had  been 
several  times  on  this  errand,  and  had  not  gained  any  satisfaction.  The 
President  then  thought  proper  to  inform  me — "You  have  got  satisfaction 
now;  you  had  better  go  home,  goto  the  priest,  read  your  book,  and  then 
you  will  be  better  satisfied."  I  then  observed  that  I  would  have  my 
child;  to  which  the  answer  was — "If  you  get  her,  )ou  get  her  by  force." 
On  Thursday  last,  July  25th,  1S39,  I  hired  a  hack,  and,  in  company 
with  two  female  friends,  who  went  to  protect  me,  took  my  child,  assist- 
ed her  in  the  carriage,  and  brought  her  away.  A  person  there  in  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  gentleman,  attempted  to  take  her  from  the  arms  of  her 
mother.  I  regret  I  do  nol  know  who  this  valiant  individual  is;  because 
if  I  did,  his  name  should  be  published  through  the  papers  of  this  city: 
but  thanks  to  my  female  protectors,  we  conquered  him. 

ELIZA  ANN  O'NEAL. 


Personally  appeared  before  me,  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace,  in  and 
for  the  city  of  Baltimore,  Eliza  Ann  O'Neal,  and  made  oath    that 
the  above  statement  is  a  true  account  of  the  occurrence  as  above  detailed. 
Sworn  before  JEREMIAH  STORM. 


NUMBER    XXVI. 

ESCAPE     OF    A    NUN    FROM    THE     CARMELITE    PRISON     IN 
AISQUITH    STREET. 

On  the  18th  of  August,  (1839)  being  the  sabbath  day, 
about  noon,  a  nun,  who  proved  to  be  Olevia  Neal,  for- 
merly of  Charles  Co.  Md.,  but  for  the  last  nineteen 
years,  a  prisoner  called  sister  Isabella;  succeeded  in 
getting  out  of  the  Carmelite  nunnery  in  Aisquith  street, 
and  after  being  repulsed  by  several  families,  was  received 


23P)  ESCAPE   OF   A   NUN  FROM  THE 

and  protected  by  a  worthy  citizen,  living  a  few  doors 
from  the  convent. 

The  scene  of  operations  lying  not  many  squares  from 
the  church  of  which  the  writer  of  these  lines  is  pastor,  a 
member  of  his  congregation  on  his  return  home  from 
church  in  the  forenoon,  w;is  at  the  spot  just  in  thru*  to 
see  and  know  the  real  state  of  affairs;  and  hastening 
back,  took  us,  and  several  influential  citizens  directly  to 
the  poor  nun.  We  found  on  our  arrival  a  crowd  collect- 
ing; a  prodigious  excitement  getting  up,  in  consequence 
of  an  attempt  to  force  back  the  nun  into  the  convent;  and 
no  body  disposed  to  take  the  direction  of  affairs.  In 
this  crisis,  we  assumed  the  responsibility  of  directing  the 
mayor  to  be  sent  for — and  the  woman  to  be  protected,  if 
necessary  by  force  On  the  arrival  of  that  officer,  the 
family  who  had  protected  the  nun  turned  her  over  to  his 
care;  and  he  took  her  to  the  hospital  of  the  Washington 
Medical  University,  for  present  protection  and  care. 

The  nun  stated  that  she  had  entered  the  convent  at  a 
very  early  age;  that  she  had  long  desired  to  escape;  that 
on  one  occasion  before,  she  had  gotten  out,  and  was  met 
and  carrried  back  by  priest  Gildea.  And  she  demanded 
in  the  most  earnest  and  piteous  manner  the  protection  of  the 
people.  Many  rumours  soon  got  afloat, — which  aided  in 
exasperating  the  public  mind;  but  whether  they  were 
true  or  not,  we  shall  not  now  enquire. 

The  natural  consequence  of  such  an  event  happening 
in  open  day,  in  the  midst  of  a  large  city,  and  on  the  sab- 
bath day — was  a  tremendous  agitation  in  the  public  mind. 
During  the  sabbath  afternoon  and  night,  and  Mondaj 
and  Tuesday — many  thousands  visited  the  scene  of  the 
escape;  and  for  hours  together  blocked  up  the  streets  ad- 
joining the  convent.  A  feeling  of  intense  interest  and 
settled  indignation  amongst  the  Protestants,  and  of  sullen 
fury  and  deep  shame  amongst  the  Papists — was  widely 
prevalent,  and  strongly  expressed  in  many  ways.  And 
there  was  some  real  or  feigned  apprehension  that  a  mob 
might  tear  down  the  convent.  To  prevent  which,  some 
hundreds  of  troops  were  kept  under  arms,  part  of  Sun- 
day, Monday  and  'Tuesday  nights. 

The  Papists  have  industriously  circulated  the  report, 
that  the  nun  is  deranged.     This  maybe  true;  but  if  it  is, 


CARMELITE  PRTSON  IN  AISQUITH   STREET.  237 

it  does  not  justify  the  Papists  in  keeping  a  prison  in 
Aisquith  street.     But  we  may  observe,  (1)    Thai  it'  it  is 

deemed  needful  to  the  popish  cause  to  provr  her  insane, 
there  is  a  lawful,  usual  and  fair  mode  of  trying  that  ques- 
tion; let  a  writ  dc  lunatico  inquirendo  he  issued,  and 
twelve  men  find  the  fact  on  their  corporal  oaths.  (2.) 
This  is  the  universal  charge  made  in  all  such  cases; 
Milly  McPhersQfl  was  mad,  .Maria  Monk  was  mad,  &.c. 
&c.  (3.)  We  had  a  personal  interview  with  the  woman, 
and  she  seemed  to  us  sane  enough;  so  she  did  also,  to 
other  disinterested  gentlemen,  competent  to  decide,  both 
professionally  and  otherwise,  in  such  a  case. 

Much  pains  have  been  taken  to  heap  odium  on  us  for 
our  agency — which  was  very  small — in  this  affair,  and  to 
misrepresent  our  course,  feelings  and  principles.  We 
have  not  space  now  to  rebuke  such  pestilent  slanderers. 
But  we  must  say  we  have  done  just  what  we  think  every 
honest  man,  who  loves  liberty,  virtue,  and  God,  ought  to 
do  for  any  poor  female  who  falls  in  his  way  in  great  tribu- 
lation, and  demands  his  aid.  We  shall  do  the  same  or 
more,  every  time  we  have  the  opportunity;  and  thank 
God  for  the  honor  thus  put  on  us. 

Our  mind  is  clear  that  people  have  in  view  of  the  law, 
as  much  right  to  be  Papists  as  to  be  any  thing  else;  and 
if  they  choose,  they  have  the  right  to  shut  up  their  doors 
and  stay  in  their  houses,  and  call  themselves  nuns.  But 
we  positively  deny,  that  any  priest  or  other  man,  has  a 
right  to  keep  a  prison  on  his  own  private  account  or  on 
the  account  of  any  foreign  prince,  or  potentate  whether 
he  be  called  pope  or  king  ;  and  in  that  prison  lock  up 
free  American  citizens  and  keep  them  there,  subject  to 
stripes  and  chains;  the  laws,  meanwhile,  having  no  power 
or  access  therein.  And  we  assert  and  maintain,  that  the 
civil  authorities  are  bound  to  examine  into  such  cases, 
and  to  abate  such  prisons,  like  any  other  nuisance;  and  to 
punish  their  vile  keepers  like  any  other  public  criminals; 
yea  and  to  use,  if  need  be,  the  power  of  the  state  for 
that  end.  And  still  farther,  we  contend  that  if  the  rulers 
will  not  do  it,  society  ought  to  reject  such  rulers  as  un- 
worthy— and  as  accessaries  to  all  the  villany  they  con- 
nive at.     And  finally,  if  there  remains  no  other  mode  of 


238  ESCAPE  OF  A    NUN,    &C 

redress  against  intolerable  evils,  society  en  masse  is  di- 
vinely commissioned  to  rise  and  correct  them.  The  right 
of  revolution  itself  i*>  a  sacred  and  an  inalienable  right; 
much  more  the  right,  to  protect  the  weak,  the  oppressed, 
the  suffering, — when  in  God's  Dame  they  demand  it  at 
our  hands. 

It  is  perfectly  true  that  every  law  oughl  to  be  exactly 
obeyed;  but  there  is  no  law  tor  the  priests  to  keep  a 
prison  tor  women.  It  is  also  true  that  the  public  security 
depends  entirely  on  universal  obedience  to  law;  but  se- 
curity of  person,  is  as  sacred  and  as  precious  a  right  as 
security  of  property;  and  ought  to  be  as  rigidly  en- 
forced. Let  the  laws  be  supreme;  this  is  what  we  de- 
mand. But  let  it  be  every  law,  all  the  laws:  the  laws 
which  protect  the  personal  rights  of  Olevia  Neal,  as  real- 
ly as  those  which  protect  the  property  of  priest  Gildea;  the 
laws  which  make  the  law  itself  supreme,  as  fully  as  any 
other  portion  of  the  law. 

Thank  God,  the  stupor  which  rested  on  the  public 
mind  is  dissipated.  Discussion  is  no  longer  considered 
sedition.  The  people  see  that  we  have  told  them  only 
the  truth.  The  public  mind  is  turned  to  this  great  and 
growing  danger,  and  the  press  and  the  public  authorities 
of  this  Protestant  city  and  country — must  at  last  discover 
that  we  are  free  and  Protestant;  and  that  we  intend  to 
continue  both,  at  all  hazards.  If  a  crisis  must  come  to 
decide  these  questions;   as  well  now,  as  at  another  time. 

We  shall  resume  this  subject — when  we  have  more 
space  and  leisure. 


N  u  M  b  i:  B  xxvii. 

THE  OLE  via   VEAL  THE   UABMEL1TJ  ;.L- 

ED  SI8TEB  ISABELLA. 

The  article  which  immediately  precedes  this,  contains 

a  rapid  sketch  of  the   principal  facts  connected   with  the 

escape  of  the  poor  Carmelite,  whose  case  excited  such  a 
profound  sensation.     According  to  our  promise  we  now 

.:ne  the  subject,  which  is  indeed  altogether  too  mo- 
mentous to  be  allowed  to  pass  by  without  a  deliberate  and 
thorough  consideration;  and  which  we  are  all  the  better 
prepared  to  discuss  and  to  decide,  after  the  delay  which 
occurred,  and  in  the  exercise  of  that  tranquillity  to 
which  the  public  mind  is  again  restored. 

We  consider  it  not  amiss  to  say,  that  our  whole  aims 
in  the  treatment  of  this  sad  affair,  are  public;  and  that  we 
shall  not  willingly  or  needlessly  intrude  upon  private  mat- 
ters, or  wound  private  feelings.  At  the  same  time  we 
have  a  great  public  duty  to  perform;  and  we  shall  dis- 
charge it,  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  in  utter  disregard  of  the 
wrath  of  man.  The  poor  Carmelite,  will  doubtless  never 
see  these  lines;  and  therefore  any  expression  of  our  pro- 
found compassion  for  her  misfortunes  and  our  deep  in- 
dignation against  the  treachery  and  wiles  which  have 
brought  her  to  ruin,  and  as  they  say  to  madness — would 
be  alas!  but  idle  words.  How  consoling  is  the  assurance 
that  there  is  a  land  where  the  weary  are  at  rest;  where 
the  victim  is  at  last  set  free;  and  where  the  rod  and  the 
snare  of  the  wicked  and  the  oppressor,  are  broken  in 
pieces!  In  that  bright  world,  we  hope  to  meet  this  poor, 
oppressed,  deluded,  broken-hearted  child  of  sorrow,  face 
to  face,  once  more;  and  to  find,  that  indeed,  while  the 
strong  ones  of  earth  derided  her,  and  the  cunning  ones  en- 
trapped her  past  deliverance  ;  God  her  Saviour,  gently 
guided  her  along  her  thorny  path,  and  bore  her  safely 
through  the  fire,  and  through  the  deep  waters,  in  the 
bosom  of  his  love! 

But  we  have  much  to  say  that  requires  a  firmer  mood 
than  this.     Let  us  say  it  all,  even  in  the  solemn  consci- 


240  THE   CASE  OF   OLEVIA   NEAL 

ousness  that  it  cannot  aid  her,  who  is  the  chief  actor  in 
the  scene.  It  may  at  least,  turn  aside  some  other  victim 
from  the  path  of  sorrow;  or  it  may  arouse  the  sleeping 
justice  of  society;  or  at  the  least,  it  will  abide,  as  a  testi- 
mony— a  deliberate,  conscientious,  Uftterrified  testimony 
— for  liberty  and  truth— against  hypocrisy  and  crying 
wrong. 

On  the  18th  day  of  August,  (1S39)  which  was  the 
Lord's  day,  wre  had  preached  as  usual  at  10  o'clock  in 
the  forenoon,  to  the  congregation  which  for  nearly  seven 
years  we  have  ministered  to  in  spiritual  things — in  Balti- 
more. About  noon,  and  immediately  after  the  public 
worship  of  God  was  concluded,  a  very  valued  friend,  who 
is  (as  his  father  before  him  was)  one  of  the  most  respect- 
able men  in  the  city,  called  upon  us,  at  the  house  of 
another  esteemed  friend,  who  is  also  one  of  our  most  res~ 
spected  citizens;  and  briefly  informed  us,  that  a  nun  had 
just  rr*ade  her  escape  from  the  Convent  in  Aisquith  street; 
that  she  was  as  yet  protected  by  a  worthy  citizen,  whose 
house  she  had  entered;  that  a  crowd  was  collecting;  that 
there  were  rumors  of  an  immediate  attempt  to  carry  her 
back  by  force  to  the  convent;  that  no  one  seemed  to 
know  what  was  best  to  be  done;  and  that  our  presence 
was  desired  on  the  spot.  Without  a  moment's  hesita- 
tion, we  all  three  went  to  the  scene  of  the  affair,  which 
appeared  to  threaten  such  instant  and  serious  results. — 
As  we  went,  the  writer  of  this  article  called  on  a  gentle- 
man, who  is  on  all  accounts  one  of  the  most  influential  in 
the  city,  and  who  is  a  member  and  class-leader  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church;  both  those  before  named 
being  members  of  our  own  church.  We  called  here  for 
two  purposes — (I.)  to  learn  the  name  of  the  nearest  ma- 
gistrate; (2)  to  carry  with  us,  the  weight  of  the  presence 
of  the  principal  citizens  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  the  commotion.  A  similar  call  was  made  by  the  other 
gentlemen,  on  one  or  two  individuals;  and  in  a  few  mo- 
ments we  arrived  at  the  corner  of  Aisquith  and  Douglass 
streets — accompanied  by  men,  above  all  suspicion — and 
accustomed  to  be  looked  to,  as  the  very  patterns  of  civic 
and  social  propriety,  When  we  arrived  on  the  ground, 
we  found  a  mob  of  just  the  same  kind  of  men  in  great 


THE    CARMELITE    NUN.  241 

part,  already  there!  It  is  needless  to  add,  that  in  such 
hand-  jood  cause,  was  not  onljf  sale  but  sacred. 

After  a  l>i  u  f  exchange  of  sentiments  with  a  few  groups 

of  friends — we  entered  the  house  adjoining  that  in  which 
the  nun  was;  which  was  occupied  by  a  personal  friend 
and  member  of  our  church,  a  widow,  who  was  also  the 
proprietor  of  the  house  into  which  the  fugitive  had  been 
received.  At  our  request  the  master  of  the  other  house 
came  in  to  us,  and  at  our  suggestion  sent  immediately 
for  the  mayor  of  the  city;  while  we  passed  into  his  house 
with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Poisal,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church,  and  the  friend  who  came  first  for  us.  Here  we 
suggested  that  a  few  resolute  men  who  could  be  relied 
on  for  prudence  and  courage,  should  be  let  into  the  house; 
and  that  all  force  should  be  resisted  by  force,  till  the 
mayor  should  arrive.     This  was  immediately  done. 

We  take  leave  to  say  that  after  mature  consideration, 
we  see  nothing  better  than  what  was  suggested  on  the 
instant.  If  the  woman  had  been  carried  back  by  force, 
no  human  power  could  have  prevented  a  bloody  and 
most  fearful  riot;  which  in  its  progress  would  have  in- 
volved the  whole  city,  and  covered  it  with  mourning. 
Besides  this,  the  nun  was  free  and  of  full  age — and  there- 
fore, without  warrant  of  law,  no  one  had  a  right  to  mo- 
lest her;  and  common  humanity,  honour  and  religion  re- 
quired that  she  should  have  the  protection  she  piteously 
demanded.  Still  further,  the  glorious  axiom  of  the 
common  law  holds  with  us, — that  even  the  humblest  and 
poorest  man's  house  is  his  castle — and  may  be  defended 
lawfully,  against  the  whole  world;  and  especially  against 
lawless  attempts  to  break  into  it.  And  finally,  the  mayor 
as  chief  executive  officer  of  the  city — was  the  proper 
person  to  take  charge  of  the  whole  affair. 

It  has  been  said  that  no  one  had  any  thought  of  using 
force;  or  of  taking  back  the  nun  without  her  free  consent. 
Such  statements  are  false;  they  were  never  thought  of, 
till  it  was  found  wrhat  would  be  the  certain  effect  of  an 
appeal  to  force;  and  they  can  be  disproved  by  hundreds 
of  men,  of  unimpeached  and  unimpeachable  veracity. 
When  the  nun's  escape  was  discovered  in  the  convent, 
men  and  women  issued  from  it,  and  ran  in  all  directions 
21 


242  THE   CASE  OF  OLEVIA  NEAL 

up  and  down  the  streets  in  pursuit  and  anxious  search  for 
her,  after  she  had  luckily  found  shelter.  Priest  GlLDEA, 
who  is  confessor  to  the  convent,  was  very  soon  on  the 
ground — and  repeatedly  attempted  and  positively  insisted, 
again  and  again,  on  having  an  interview  with  the  nun. 
And  not  only  Papists,  but  even  Protestants,  vociferous- 
ly demanded  the  instant  restoration  of  the  nun  to  the 
convent,  with  or  against  her  will; — until  the  decided  in- 
dications of  public  indignation  awed  down  such  audacious 
and  mad  projects.  These  facts  are  all  perfectly  notorious; 
and  the  names  of  leading  persons,  who  urged  and  favored 
such  a  disposal  of  the  nun,  are  in  everybody's  mouth. — 
So  perfectly  wrell  established  was  the  fact  of  a  contempla- 
ted rescue,  and  so  fatal  did  such  an  attempt  appear  to  us 
to  be;  that  while  we  were  in  the  same  house  wTith  the  nun, 
and  while  the  matter  was  undergoing  a  vociferous  discus- 
sion out  of  doors,  we  proposed,  and  all  within  approved 
the  idea — that  while  we  defended  the  house  to  the  last  ex- 
tremity, the  nun  should  change  her  dress  and  be  privately 
removed,  if  the  mayor  did  not  speedily  arrive;  so  as  at 
once  to  defeat  the  attempted  rescue,  and  keep  matters  in 
statu  quo;  and  the  execution  of  the  project  was  prevent- 
ed only  by  the  prompt  appearance  of  that  officer. — The 
truth  is,  the  Papists  wTere  by  no  means  prepared  for  the 
intense  feeling  which  was  so  suddenly  manifested  through- 
out the  city;  and  when  they  saw  the  real  state  of  things, 
they  became  satisfied  that  a  change  of  plan  was  indis- 
pensable; and  then  without  hesitation  denied  their  former 
intentions  and  ate  their  former  wrords. 

What  it  takes  us  many  words  to  relate,  passed  very 
quickly.  While  it  wras  passing,  wre  had,  at  the  Carme- 
lite's request,  a  personal  interview  with  her,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  two  gentlemen  who  entered  the  house  in 
which  she  was,  with  us;  and  also  of  several  members  of 
the  family  residing  in  the  house.  This  interview  was 
brief,  but  decisive.  On  its  own  account,  as  well  as  on 
account  of  the  public  attempts  to  prove  madness  on  her; 
or  as  Dr.  Miller  has  not  hesitated  to  call  her,  a  u  perfect 
maniac;"  wre  will  try  to  give  the  reader  an  accurate  im- 
pression of  the   scene. 

We  were  ushered  by  a  narrow  winding  stair-way,  into 
a  small  upper  chamber   of  a  house  only   one  room  deep, 


THE   CARMELITE  NUN.  243 

and  of  very  low  pitch.  The  front  windows  of  this  room, 
were  immediately  on  the  street,  about  ten  or  twelve  feel 
above  the  pavement;  and  under  them  were  hundreds  of 
men  violently  excited  about  the  poor  sufferer,  who  could 
see  and  hear  every  thing,  if  it  so  pleased  her.  At  a  hack 
window,  seated  on  a  low  chest — in  a  posture  of  meek 
and  quiet  sorrow,  was  the  unhappy  Carmelite.  She  ap- 
peared to  be  a  female  somewhat  above  thirty — with  a  full 
and  rather  pleasant  face,  and  large  black  eyes.  Her  ap- 
pearance was  that  of  a  person  in  ordinary  health;  and  her 
dress  the  peculiar  and  shocking  costume  of  her  order.  She 
held  in  her  hand  a  white  handkerchief  of  very  fine  tex- 
ture; and  with  becoming  modesty  instinctively  hid  her  feet 
under  her  dress — so  that  the  imperfect  and  barbarous  pro- 
tection for  them,  required  as  we  knew,  by  her  order,  might 
not  be  visible.  Her  arms  were  bare  to  the  elbow — and 
exhibited  such  an  aspect  of  exposure  and  hardship,  as  to 
excite  some  suspicion  in  our  mind,  as  to  her  condition 
in  the  convent.  Indeed  we  expressed  these  doubts  as 
kindly  as  we  could,  during  the  conversation,  by  a  ques- 
tion as  to  her  quality;  whether,  namely,  she  had  been  a 
sister  or  a  domestic?  She  replied  humbly  but  firmly,  a 
sister.  We  repeat  these  things,  because  they  give  the 
reader  a  just  idea  of  what  we  wish  to  convey;  and  be- 
cause they  show  what  was  our  own  state  of  mind,  at  the 
time.  We  were  indeed  deeply  interested  in  all  that  tran- 
spired, but  never  more  perfectly  qualified  to  see,  to  hear, 
and  to  decide,  on  the  things  of  which  we  speak. 

We  took  a  seat  at  the  side  of  the  nun.  Mr.  Poisal 
sat  on  the  edge  of  a  bed,  on  the  other  side  of  her.  He 
had  gone  up  stairs  a  minute  or  two  before  us;  and  as  we 
entered  the  room  he  said  to  her,  this  is  Mr.  B.,  naming 
us.  Her  reply  went  to  our  heart;  she  extended  her  hands 
towards  us,  and  repeating  our  name,  said  almost  convul- 
sively— " I  claim  your  protection!"  May  God  do  so,  and 
more,  to  every  man's  soul,  who  shall  dare  to  outrage  na- 
ture and  heaven,  by  resisting  such  an  appeal  in  such  a 
case!  We  told  her  we  had  come  to  her,  for  no  other 
purpose. 

A  rapid  conversation,  in  which  several  took  part,  im- 
mediately ensued,  from  which  we  learned   in  substance; 


244  THE    CASE   OF  OLEVIA  NEAL 

that  her  name  was  Olevia  Neal,  originally  from  Charles 
Co.  Md.,  but  now  called  sister  Isabella;  that  she  had 
been  put  into  the  convent  very  young,  (the  precise  age 
not  stated  by  her;  but  as  some  have  said  at  six,  or  as 
others  say  at  sixteen  years  of  age,)  and  been  in  it  nine- 
teen  years;  that  she  had  been  long  anxiously  Irving  to 
get  out,  and  had  once  succeeded  in  making  her  escape 
into  the  street,  when  she  was  met  and  forcibly  carried 
back  and  subjected  to  severe  penances;  that  having  again 
escaped,  her  anxious  desire  was  for  present  protection,  a 
desire  she  repeatedly  expressed;  that  however,  she  wished 
all  to  understand  that  she  did  not  desire  to  change  her  re- 
ligion, but  only  her  condition  as  a  nun;  that  she  did  not 
wish  any  violence  offered  either  to  the  nuns  or  priests  on 
her  account,  against  w7hom  indeed,  she  said  she  was  not 
disposed  to  make  any  accusation;  that  she  felt  agitated 
and  unlit  for  any  extended  conversation  on  the  subject 
of  her  past  trials,  and  asked  only  for  security,  repose  and 
tranquillity  till  she  could  collect  her  faculties  and  decide 
more  maturely  on  her  future  line  of  conduct;  which  was 
the  more  necessary,  she  said,  as  they  had  told  her  that 
her  mind  was  weak;  and  that  having  no  friends  in  ichom 
she  could  confide,  she  ivas  obliged  to  throw  herself  on  the 
public  for  protection. 

Much  more  was  said,  which  we  do  not  think  it  worth 
while  to  repeat  at  present.  But  as  a  sample  of  the  gene- 
ral style  of  conversation,  and  as  a  proof  that  she  is  a 
"perfect  maniac  "  we  will  detail  one  item  more  minutely. 

She  was  asked  if  a  nun  had  not  escaped  some  months 
ago? 

Yes,  it  was  I: — was  her  reply. 

How  happens  it  that  you  were  back  again? 

I  was  met  by  a  gentleman,  immediately  after  getting 
out,  and  carried  back. 

Who  was  that  gentleman? 

No  answer. 

Was  it  Priest  Gildea? 

Yes  sir. 

What  was  done  to  you,  when  you  were  carried  back? 

There  are  penances  to  undergo.  I  was  subjected  to 
1hem. 


THE   CARMELITK  NUN.  245 

Did  they  whip  your 

No  answer;  but  amournful  smile. 

Did  they  imprison  you? 

I  have  said  I  endured  the  usual  penance. 

She  was  not  pressed  farther  on  this  painful  subject;  be- 
ing evidently  unwilling  to  speak  fully  of  it.  We  must 
say  in  explanation,  that  we  had  known  for  some  time  the 
fact  of  the  former  escape  of  a  nun;  and  also  Mr.  Gil- 
dea's  agency  in  her  re-capture.  And  we  shall  show  be- 
fore we  conclude  this  article,  that  the  questions  as  to  the 
stripes  and  chains,  were  not  idle  or  unsuitable;  but  most 
pertinent,  and  most  natural  The  priests  must  not  sup- 
pose that  we  neglect  their  affairs;  nor  that  we  tell  always 
all  we  know  of  their  matters.  We  have  indeed  no  spies, 
and  no  secret  machinations.  But  there  are  in  Baltimore 
eighty  thousand  pairs  of  Protestant  eyes  and  ears;  and  the 
Papists  have  taken  so  much  pains  to  make  us  odious, 
that  others  in  revenge,  unduly  honour  us.  So  few  pro- 
minent men  are  willing  to  stand  boldly  on  the  Lord?s 
side  in  this  great  controversy;  that  the  thousands  of  pri- 
vate persons  who  are  meditating  it  and  turning  it  in  their 
thoughts — do  not  forget  even  the  humble  instruments, 
whom  God  condescends  to  employ  in  his  controversy 
with  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet. 

The  poor  Carmelite,  we  have  admitted,  said  more  than 
we  think  it  necessary  now  to  repeat.  She  is  reported  to 
have  said  much  which  wTe  did  not  hear;  and  cannot  there- 
fore avouch  as  true.  Enough  was  known  for  undisput- 
able  truth,  to  produce  the  most  intense  excitement  in  the 
public  mind.  When  to  this  was  added  the  many  dread- 
ful things  reported  to  have  been  stated  by  her,  and  those 
natural  exaggerations  to  which  all  rumors  seem  liable  in 
their  progress  from  man  to  man,  it  is  not  to  be  wander- 
ed at,  that  the  whole  city  was  moved:  nor  bv  consequence 
that  the  intervention  of  the  mayor,  first  rendered  neces- 
sary by  the  violent  pretensions  of  the  Papists,  was  after- 
wards considered  not  less  so  by  the  excessive  agitation 
of  the  whole  community.  When  he  arrived  on  the 
ground  he  found  the  larger  portion  of  the  crowd  so  de- 
cidedly Protestant,  that  the  proposal  to  take  the  nun  to 
the  Maryland  hospital,  which  though  a  public  institution 
21* 


246  THE  CASE  OF  OLEVIA  NEAL 

is  under  the  care  of  another  set  of  nuns,  was  positively 
rejected  by  the  crowd;  and  she  was  taken  by  general  con- 
sent, for  present  protection  to  the  Washington  Medical 
College,  where  there  is  an  infirmary  under  Protestant 
influence. 

Our  personal  agency  in  this  affair  has  now  been  fully 
stated.  It  was  throughout  unpremeditated,  and  obvious- 
ly called  for  by  Divine  Providence.  We  do  not  regret  it; 
our  only  regret  is  that  we  were  not  able  to  do  more  avail- 
able service,  than  we  fear  was  done,  to  an  unfortunate 
fellow  being  who  has  been  placed  by  untoward  circum- 
stances in  such  a  position  as  to  render  it  difficult,  if  not 
impossible  to  serve  her  effectually.  We  earnestly  hope 
that  the  day  is  near  at  hand,  when  every  honest  man  will 
feel  it  a  duty  and  an  honour,  to  do  more  than  we  have 
been  able  to  do;  and  which  would  not  be  worth  the  nam- 
ing, but  for  the  threats  of  personal  violence;  the  placards 
inviting  the  Papists  to  pull  down  our  house  and  church; 
the  newspaper  inuendos,  and  the  papal  clamour  that  the 
whole  of  this  excitement  is  traceable  to  our  anti-papal  la- 
bours— with  more  of  alike  description;  w^hich  have  unit- 
edly induced  us  to  record  with  some  minuteness,  our  real 
agency  in  the  affairs  of  the  nun.  And  now  in  dismissing 
this  portion  of  the  subject,  we  have  merely  to  say,  that 
our  mind  and  heart  are  fully  settled  on  this  whole  sub- 
ject; and  reproach,  danger,  and  death  itself  are  to  us, 
lighter  than  chaff,  in  comparison  with  keeping  a  good  con- 
science, doing  our  Master's  work, and  finishing  our  course 
with  joy.  Neither  do  we  forget,  that  they  who  bound 
themselves  by  a  great  curse  to  eat  nothing  till  they  had 
slain  Paul;  swore  and  plotted  only  to  their  own  hurt  and 
shame. 

Upon  any  view  of  this  subject  it  must  certainly  be  al- 
lowed, that  the  public  have  no  sort  of  interest  in  its  min- 
ute personal  relations.  But  on  the  other  hand  it  is  equal- 
ly clear,  that  the  most  insignificant  of  these  individual 
details  may  involve  principles  and  interests  of  the  largest 
and  most  weighty  kind.  Such  we  feel  confident  is  the 
case;  and  having  that  impression  we  shall  now  proceed 
to  make  such  observations  as  appear  necessary. 

It  would  be  a  profitable  and  striking  exhibition,  if  some 
one  would  take  the  trouble  to  collect  the  sentiments  oi 


THE  CARMELITE  NUN.  247 

the  most  profound  thinkers,  fend  tin- most  active  pieniot- 
ers  of  the  good  of  mankind;  in  regard  to  the  danger  of  tol- 
erating the  popish  religion  in  any  free  state.  John  Wes- 
ley openly  declared  that  he  considered  it  dangerous  and 

uncalled  for,  to  allow  of  such  a  system  in  any  Protestant 
community,  for  this  reason  chiefly — that  as  it  was  of  faith 
amongst  Papists  that  no  faith  need  be  kept  with  heretics 
— therefore  heretics  so  called  could  have  no  faith  in  them; 
in  short,  that  no  adequate  guarantee  could  be  given  by 
such  persons,  for  loyalty  to  the  state,  or  fidelity  to  men, 
and  therefore  neither  men  nor  states  could  safely  trust 
them.  John  Howe,  in  the  most  trying  and  impressive 
circumstances,  and  when  under  the  strongest  temptation 
to  conceal  or  modify  his  principles,  or  at  least  to  be  pas- 
sive; publicly  and  boldly  declared,  that  he  considered  the 
papal  religion  so  corrupt  that  no  Christian  government 
could  allow  of  it,  without  offending  God.  John  Milton 
in  his  majestic  work,  Pro  Populo  Jinglicano  Defensio, — 
towards  the  close  of  the  preface,  has  these  words;  "There- 
fore we  do  not  admit  of  the  popish  sect,  so  as  to  tolerate 
Papists  at  all,  for  we  do  not  look  upon  that  as  a  religion, 
but  rather  as  ahierarchical  tyranny,  under  a  cloak  of  re- 
ligion, clothed  with  the  spoils  of  the  civil  power,  which  it 
has  usurped  to  itself,  contrary  to  our  Saviour's  own  doc- 
trine." 

Similar  to  these,  have  been  the  conclusions  of  the  ablest 
of  mankind  in  all  countries  but  our  own,  until  within  a 
period  comparatively  recent.  We  have  taken  a  different 
view  of  the  subject,  from  an  early  period  of  our  history; 
and  universal  religious  liberty,  or  at  least  a  very  enlarged 
toleration  has  been  generally  established  in  the  United 
States.  For  our  part,  we  cordially  and  ex  animo,  em- 
brace the  principles  of  the  largest  liberty,  in  all  possible 
cases.  But  we  incline  seriously  to  doubt  whether  the 
community  at  large,  or  our  tribunals  in  particular,  have 
as  yet  really  examined  this  important  subject  in  all  its 
practical  bearings;  and  we  apprehend  that  many  and  un- 
foreseen difficulties  will  yet  occur,  in  carrying  out  princi- 
ples precious  to  us  all.  Let  us  illustrate  by  a  case.  The 
Universalist  is  rejected  from  the  stand  as  an  incompe- 
tent witne*  -  because  he  does  not  believe  in  a  future  state 


248  THE   CASE  OF  OLEVIA  NEAL 

of  rewards  and  punishments;  and  the  Atheist,  because  he 
doubts  even,  concerning  the  existence  of  a  moral  Gover- 
nor of  the  Universe.  But  the  oath  of  a  Papist  is  taken 
unquestioned,  although  it  is  part  of  his  faith  that  if  hebe 
a  priest,  he  is  not  bound  to  tell  the  truth  on  oath  before  a 
heretical  tribunal — which  is  to  him  as  a  nullity,  and  his 
oath  therefore,  no  oath;  while  any  popish  layman,  may 
commit  deliberate  perjury,  and  be  absolved  by  the  next 
priest; — yea  absolved  for  a  trifle  in  ready  money,  at  a  rate 
set  down  in  the  tax  book  of  the  pope's  chancery! 

The  truth  is,  however,  that  Papists  in  the  United  States 
so  far  from  being  satisfied  with  the  same  religious  liberty 
which  we  all  enjoy — require  us  to  allow  them  the  exer- 
cise of  peculiar  and  most  iniquitous  privileges,  which 
are  hostile  alike  to  our  principles,  our  feelings,  and  our 
patriotism.  Papists,  who  never  tolerate  any  other  reli- 
gion when  they  can  by  force  suppress  all  dissent;  Papists 
who  in  Spain,  Italy,  Portugal,  Mexico,  Guatimala,  and 
all  South  America,  at  this  moment  forbid  the  free  exer- 
cise of  any  religion  but  their  own;  these  same  Papists 
come  here  amongst  us,  and  not  content  to  enjoy  all  we 
enjoy,  require,  yea  and  exercise  special  privileges  grant- 
ed to  none  else! 

Is  there  any  Episcopalian  prison  in  Baltimore?  Is 
there  any  Methodist  jail  where  women  are  kept  under 
lock  and  key,  bars  and  walls — for  private  tuition  by  sin- 
gle gentlemen?  Is  there  any  Presbyterian  confession,, 
council  or  tribunal  which  has  required  the  erection  of  pri- 
sons, and  provided  laws  for  the  whipping,  chaining,  and 
putting  to  death  of  women  confined  therein?  And  then 
set  up  in  practice  their  vile  principles,  in  open  day  in  our 
streets?  No  man  believes,  no  man  insinuates,  that  such 
things  are.  No  Protestant  asks,  desires,  or  exercises 
such  exclusive  and  outrageous  pretensions. — But  ninety- 
nine  out  of  every  hundred  Protestants  in  this  city,  strong- 
ly suspect,  if  they  do  not  firmly  believe,  that  the  so  call- 
ed Carmelite  Nunnery  in  Aisquith  street,  is  a  prison  Jor 
women;  who  are  there  kept  against  their  will,  and  with- 
out warrant  of  law;  and  who  under  the  pretence  of  reli- 
gion, are  subjected  to  the  absolute  and  private  control  of 
unmarried  men! 


THE  CARMELITE  NUN.  249 

We  protest  in  the  name  of  God  and  of  a  free  people, 
that  these  unmarried  nun  have  HO  right  to  keep  a  prison 
for  women  in  our  city.  We  claim  it  as  the  sacred  right 
of  these  poor  women, — aright  for  whose  free   exercise, 

virtue  as  well  as  liberty  pleads  in  tears,  to  have  free 
egress  from  that  prison,  at  their  own  choice — yea  at  their 
mere  caprice,  yea  whether  they  be  umono-maniac"  or 
"perfect  maniac."  We  solemnly  demand  of  the  public 
authorities  that  they  see  into  this  prison,  and  thoroughly 
inspect  it  from  the  garret  to  its  darkest  subterranean  cell. 
We  call  upon  our  legislators,  to  invest  the  guardians  of 
the  public  freedom  and  morality-,  with  all  needful  author- 
ity, to  examine,  decide,  and  act  in  this  matter.  We  in- 
voke the  sovereign  people,  the  virtuous  men  of  every 
party,  to  lay  aside  their  unworthy  animosities  and  cast 
their  votes  for  men,  who  in  whatever  public  trust,  will 
enforce  equality  before  the  law;  who  will  put  away  all 
exclusive  privileges,  and  especially  all  execrable  preten- 
sions to  imprison  the  free,  without  a  lawful  warrant 

Six  hundred  and  twenty-four  years  ago,  on  the  20th 
•day  of  last  June,  our  heroic  ancestors  recovered  from 
king  John  at  Runny  Mead  their  ancient  liberties.  The 
forty- third  article  of  Magna  Charta  forbids  that  any 
freeman  shall  be  imprisoned^  but  by  the  lawful  judgment 
of  his  peers,  or  by  the  laic  of  the  land.  This  glorious 
enactment  is  the  foundation  of  all  personal  liberty. — 
Against  that  Magna  Charta,  the  then  reigning  pontiff 
Innocent  III.  issued  his  Bull,  disannulling  it  forever, 
and  condemning  with  anathema,  it  and  all  who  upheld, 
enforced  or  contended  for  it  During  these  intervening 
six  hundred  years,  liberty  and  popery  have  been  eternal- 
ly at  war;  and  will  be  to  the  end. 

Will  any  say,  that  the  Convent  in  Aisquith  street  is 
not  a  prison?  Our  answer  is  prompt  and  simple.  Satis- 
fy the  public  mind  on  that  head,  and  our  argument  on 
this  point  is  at  an  end.  Prove  to  us,  by  competent  per- 
sons, freely  admitted  to  inspect  the  house,  to  examine 
every  part,  to  see  their  mode  of  life,  and  rules  and  vows, 
to  converse  in  private  with  each  nun;  prove  to  us,  in  an 
honest,  fair  mode,  that  the  inmates  have  free  and  full  op- 
portunity and  permission  to  leave  it  at  their  d^retion; 


250  THE  CASE  OF  OLEVIA  NEAL 

and  then  we  say, — let  all  stay  and  welcome,  who  choose 
to  stay  of  their  own  accord.  Against  nunneries  as 
schools,  we  have  no  legal  objection.  Against  nunneries 
as  proselyting  houses,  our  objections  are  not  legal  ones. 
Against  nunneries  as  sinks  of  moral  pollution,  our  ob- 
jections still,  are  not  technically  legal.  But  against  nun- 
neries as  prisons,  our  objection  is  strictly  and  directly, 
that  the  laws  and  constitution,  the  liberties  and  customs, 
the  peace  and  dignity,  the  security  and  order  of  society 
utterly  forbid  them.  Let  that  argument  be  met,  or  let 
the  fact  be  disproved,  or  let  the  prison  be  abated. 

The  fact  never  can  be  disproved.  They  are  prisons. 
The  canon  law  proves  it.  The  history  of  their  suppres- 
sion every  wThere  proves  it.  The  testimony  of  all  eye 
witnesses;  the  revelations  of  all  escaping  nuns;  the  struc- 
ture of  all  convents;  the  sensation  produced  by  every 
escape; — every  fact  connected  with  the  subject  conspires 
to  prove  irrefragibly,  that  they  are  prisons.  And  we 
boldly  assert,  and  appeal  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of 
the  country,  and  to  the  whole  legal  profession,  and  to  the 
learned  bench  every  where;  that  being  prisons,  they  are 
public  nuisances,  and  may  be,  and  ought  to  be,  abated 
by  due  process  of  law. 

Will  any  say  this  cannot  be;  that  public  violence  would 
be  the  result;  bloodshed  the  necesary  consequence?  We 
indeed  know  that  an  armed  conspiracy  has  been  formed 
in  this  city,  composed  chiefly  of  foreign  ruffians;  and  its 
avowed  end  is  to  defend  at  all  hazards,  these  prisons  for 
women.  Two  thousand  men,  it  was  boasted,  were  pre- 
pared, armed,  and  waiting  for  the  signal  to  be  given,  by 
a  certain  toll  of  the  great  bell  of  the  cathedral;  and  would 
have  rushed — not  on  any  mob,  but  as  is  unblushingly 
avowed  on  private  citizens  and  designated  property.  We 
remember  the  events  of  St.  Bartholomew:  those  of  1641 
in  Ireland;  and  others  of  the  like  description  in  all  lands. 
But  we  remember  also  our  ancestors,  our  liberties,  our 
God.  If  the  laws  are  not  supreme  and  cannot  be  en- 
forced, the  sooner  this  is  known  the  better  for  all.  If 
there  be  a  party  in  the  state  stronger  than  the  state  itself, 
let  us  abolish  the  pretended  state,  and  construct  society 
anew. 


THE   CARMELITE  MJN.  251 

But  such  fears  are  absurd  and  childish;  they  are  as  silly 
as  they  are  base  There  is  &  spirit  in  the  law,  before 
which  all  other  spirits  habitually  give  way.  And  there 
is  a  spirit  in  the  American  breast,  which  will  enforce  the 
law — oppose  what  will.  The  men  who  passed  night 
after  night  under  arms  to  protect  the  prison  in  Aisquith 
street  were  nine-tenths  of  them,  staunch  Protestants;  and 
cordially  detest  the  institution  they  would  have  lost  their 
lives  in  defending.  Of  nineteen  men,  who  at  the  call  of 
the  mayor  moved  with  fixed  bayonets  upon  the  stern  and 
tumultuous  mass,  at  the  most  critical  hour  of  the  late  ex- 
citement; of  these,  nineteen  men,  who  in  fact  by  their  ga- 
lantry  decided  the  whole  affair  at  its  very  crisis — it  is 
doubtful  if  one  was  a  decided  Papist;  and  two  were  ac- 
tive members,  (one  of  them  an  elder)  in  our  own  church! — 
And  yet  we  and  such  as  they,  are  the  putative  authors  of 
all  the  commotion;  the  marked  objects  of  organized  ven- 
geance; the  butt  of  the  sneers  of  scribblers,  who  are  far 
better  disposed  to  slander  their  fellow  Protestants  than  to 
meet  an  enraged  mob- 
Some  however,  and  amongst  them  one  of  the  city 
newspapers,  have  set  up  this  defence  alike  of  convents 
and  of  the  conduct  of  the  Papists  in  the  present  case, 
viz:  that  as  females  enter  them  voluntarily  no  one  has  a 
right  to  interfere;  and  as  they  freely  bind  themselves  by 
solemn  oaths,  those  oaths  oblige  them,  and  the  public 
should  not  interfere.  It  is  truly  astonishing  that  any  one, 
but  especially  one  presumed  to  be  fit  to  conduct  a  news- 
paper, should  be  found  capable  of  advocating  such  atroci- 
ous principles. — If  a  man  binds  himself  by  contract  how- 
ever solemn,  to  any  duty  small  or  great,  or  any  interest 
however  minute  or  immense;  the  power  of  the  state, 
through  its  chancellors,  will  interpose  for  his  relief, — if 
fraud,  collusion,  deceit,  false  pretences,  failure  of  consid- 
eration, or  even  honest  mistake  can  be  substantiated. — 
But  a  poor  female  may  be  morally  influenced  by  friends, 
deluded  by  proselyting  nuns,  seduced  by  cunning  priests, 
betrayed  by  the  workings  of  her  own  fancy,  misled  by 
the  irregular  exercise  of  some  of  the  best  feelings  of  the 
heart,  or  in  a  thousand  ways  induced  to  take  a  step  which 
she  supposed  would  lead  to  peace,  innocence  and  bless- 


252  THE  CASE  OF  OLEVIA  NEAL 

edness  here  and  hereafter,  but  which  she  discovers  after- 
wards has  brought  her  nothing  but  sorrow  and  shame; 
and  after  nineteen  years  of  anguish,  when  she  seeks  de- 
liverance is  calmly  toldT  the  fraud,  the  fatal  mistake,  the 
infernal  deception,  is  irremediable  on  earth!—  Yea  the 
strong  man,  shall  need  only  to  show  that  he  acted  before 
mature  age,  and  the  act  in  many  cases  is  void  per  se,  and 
in  every  case  is  voidable;  but  the  poor  girl,  shall  be  tre- 
panned by  the  law  itself,  which  under  the  vile  influence 
of  papism  and  to  the  infamy  of  the  state,  allows  her  at 
the  tender  age  of  sixteen,  to  bind  herself  in  defiance  even 
of  paternal  tears, — to  irrevocable  perdition, — The  stout 
man,  shall  be  allowed  to  treat  as  a  mere  nullity  all  pre- 
tended oaths  administered  without  the  authority  of  law, 
and  shall  be  delivered  by  the  whole  public  force  from 
oaths  which  are  contrary  to  morality  and  lawT,  even  though 
put  to  him  by  corrupt  officers  of  the  law  itself;  but  a 
weak  girl  under  strong  delusion,  shall  swear  oaths  alike 
forbidden  by  the  law  of  God,  and  the  good  of  society; 
she  shall  swear  these  oaths,  to  men  and  women  having, 
no  sort  of  right,  power  or  warrant,  to  administer  any  oath 
whatever,  and  who  are  themselves  the  party  alone  bene- 
fited by  the  ruin  of  the  poor  victim;  and  yet  these  oaths, 
are  so  sacred  that  no  deliverance  is  to  be  hoped  from  their 
frightful  obligation! — And  this  is  what  men  advocate  as 
religious  liberty,  public  virtue,  social  duty,  and  sound 
law! 

A  far  more  common  turn  which  is  given  to  the  wrhole 
affair  is,  that  the  nun  is  deranged.  This  seems  to  be  the 
grand  fact  on  which  the  Papists  seek  to  rest  the  case;  and 
the  pains  taken  to  prove  it  have  been  to  a  great  degree 
effectual  in  diverting  public  attention  from  the  true  issue 
in  the  case.  The  only  tangible  proof  on  this  subject,  is 
contained  in  the  following  certificates,  which  were  pub- 
lished in  the  city  newspapers. 

The  Carmelite  sister  who  left  the  convent  yesterday,  Sunday,  and 
whose  name  is  Isabella  Neal,  has  been  to  my  knowledge,  afflicted  with 
this  monomania  for  upwards  of  five  months:  she  thinks  that  she  can  live 
without  eating  and  drinking.  As  I  have  not  seen  her  since  April  last,  she 
may  now  be  better  on  that  point,  but  for  all,  my  opinion  is  she  never  will 
be  in  her  right  senses. 

Baltimore*  August  19,1839.  P.  Chatard.M.D. 


THE   CARMELITE   M   \. 

Having  read  in  yesterday 'a  Evening  Poet,  "that  il  was  the   opinion 
of  the  faculty  of  the   Washington   college,  that  ftfui  Isabella    N 
"the  apparent  cause  of  the  present  excitement,"  was  "fane,'1  I  deem  it 
my  duty  to  the  faculty  to  state,  that  thrv  have  expressed  no  opinion  on 

the  case.      As  regards  m\   own   individual  opinion,  I  am  free  t'>  say  that  I 
consider  her  a  perfect  maniac, 

J.  M.  Miller,  M.  I). 
President  of  Faculty  of  Washington  University,  I5a.lt. 
Baltimore,  August  20,  1839. 

We  the  undersigned,  members  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine  of  thj 
Washington  University  of  Baltimore,  having  been  applied  to  by  Col.  Wm. 
Brent  for  our  opinion  in  reference  to  the  case  of  sister  Isabella,  who 
was  placed  in  this  institution  by  the  mayor  of  the  city,  on  Sunday  last, 
state  as  follows: 

That  we  have  visited  her  several  times,  and  from  the  general  tenor  of 
her  conversation,  wc  are  clearly  of  opinion,  that  she  is  not  of  sane  mind ; 
there  is  general  feebleness  of  intellect,  and  we  are  unanimous  in  the  be- 
lief that  she  is  a  monomaniac.  We  also  feel  it  an  act  of  justice  to 
state  that  she  made  no  complaint  of  her  treatment  while  in  the  convent, 
other  than  having  been  compelled  to  take  food  and  medicine. 

Sam.  K.  Jennings,  M.  D. 
Wm.  W.  Handy,  M.  D. 
John  C.  S.  Monkur,  M.  D. 
Edward  Foreman,  M.  D. 
John  R.  W.  Dunbar,  M.  D. 
August  21,  1839. 

We  call  the  reader's  attention  to  the  remarkable  dis- 
crepancy between  the  statement  of  Dr.  Miller,  and  that  of 
all  the  other  gentlemen.  One  of  the  best  settled  princi- 
ples of  evidence  is,  that  a  party  shall  not  be  allowed  to 
contradict  his  own  proof;  and  unless  the  Papists  can  show 
that  "perfect-maniac"  and  "mono-maniac"  are  one  and 
the  same  thing,  they  can  hardly  expect  the  public  to  be- 
lieve that  the  nun  could  be  both  at  once.  Or  if  she  could, 
then  perhaps  she  might  be  a  third  thing  at  the  same  time, 
viz:  sane  enough  to  know  that  a  convent  was  not  a  fit 
place  either  for  a  lady  or  a  Christian, — sane  enough  to  get 
out, — and  sane  enough  to  refuse  positively  to  go  back 
again  into  it. 

The  certificate  of  Dr.  Miller,  however,  is  utterly  incor- 
rect, in  point  of  fact.  There  is  not  one  person  of  the 
hundreds  who  have  seen  this  nun,  who  does  not  perfectly 
know  that  she  is  not  a  "perfect  maniac;"  and  the  profes- 
sional testimony  of  his  brethren  cannot  possibly  establish 
any  thing  more  decisive  against  the  nun;  than  it  does 
against  him,  either  professional  incompetency  or  extraor- 
22 


254  THE  CASE  OF  OLEVIA  NEAL 

dinary  carelessness  in  tbe  use  of  terms.  In  regard  to  the 
statements  of  the  Other  gentlemen,  we  will  not  pretend 
to  call  in  question  the  exact  accuracy  of  what  they  s 
and  still  less  their  own  firm  conviction  of  the  propriety  ot' 
their  course.  It  is,  as  it  appears  to  us,  rather  remaitt- 
able  however  that  Dr.  Chatard  should  have  felt  at  lib( 
to  give  a  statement  intended  to  prove  the  pi  edi- 

tion of  a  patient,  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  f  "hs. 

And  we  respectfully  submit  to  all  the  gentienea  ^ 
signed  the  third  certificate,  whether  it  is  not  calculated 
and  used  to  produce  an  impression  on  the  public  mind 
entirely  aside  from  any  which  they  themselves  would 
consider  true  and  just?  Indeed  we  might  go  to  Dr.  Cha- 
tard himself,  and  ask  if  he  would  assert  professionally 
that  a  person  who  is  of  unsound  mind  in  regard  to  food 
and  drink;  is  therefore  necessarily  incapable  of  f< 
true  and  sane  conclusion  against  being  further  confined 
in  a  convent?  We  respectfully  enquire  of  the  signers  of 
the  last  certificate — whether  they  are  willing  that  their 
names  and  influence  should  be  used  to  prove,  that  be- 
cause a  woman  "is  not  of  sane  mind" — therefore  she 
should  stay  in  a  nunnery,  or  therefore  is  acting  as  a  mad- 
woman in  trying  to  get  out?  It  is  perfectly  manifest  that 
all  these  certificates  were  got  and  used,  to  justify  the  Pa- 
pists, and  to  rob  the  poor  nun  of  public  sympathy;  and 
the  point  of  our  present  observations  is,  that  the  certifi- 
cates create  the  impression  that  the  woman  was  incapa- 
ble of  acting  rationally,  in  the  particular  act  which  it  was 
alone  necessary  to  explain;  while  in  fact  it  is  notorious 
to  all  who  saw  her,  that  although  she  might  be  weak  of 
intellect  and  unsettled  on  particular  subjects,  yet  she  was 
perfectly  rational  and  clear  in  regard  to  the  desire  and  pur- 
pose to  quit  the  convent.  We  deeply  regret  that  profes- 
sional gentlemen  should  allow  themselves  to  make  gen- 
eral statements,  which  they  ought  to  have  seen  would  be 
used  for  purposes  of  particular  wrong  and  injustice. — 
For  with  all  respect  far  the  medical  and  personal  charac- 
ters of  these  gentlemen,  we  unhesitatingly  assert  our  I 
viction  on  personal  knowledge,  that  no  twelve  men  on 
their  oaths  will  ever  say  alter  hearing  the  proof,  that  this 
nun  was  insane  when  she  escaped  from  the  nunnery. — 


TI1K   CARMKLITi;   NUN.  255 

That  is  the  point — the  whole  point     The  woman  was 
not  "maniac"  not  "mono-maniac^"  xkOtuperfect  maniac" 

She  did  tha  '//, — and  we 

defy  the  whole  world  to  establish  the  contrary,  by  any 

method  known  to  the  laws  ofaoy  civilized  people;  and 
we  are  confident  of  our  ability  to  prove  I    to  the 

^faction  of  any  jury,  if  the  opportunity  is  given.  If 
it  is  important  to  the  papa]  cause  to  prove  this  woman 
mad  when  she  escaped,  let  the  attempt  be  fairly  made; 
let  a  writ  be  issued;  let  a  jury  come;  let  witnesses  be  call- 
ed and  sworn;  let  the  cause  he  heard  and  issued:  and  we 
ict  she  will  be  found  of  sound  mind  and  memory,  in 
that  act,  and  on  that  eventful  d; 

But  her  to  have  been  "perfect  maniac"  it  is 

first  intimation  the  public  has  had,  that  the  Aisquith 
fct  convent  was  a  hospital  forthe  insane.  It  appears 
too,  that  she  was  not  the  only  maniac  there.  On  Mon- 
night  after  her  escape,  a  carriage  load  of  refractory- 
nuns  was  privately  removed  under  the  cover  of  darkness; 
and  on  the  following  Wednesday  night  the  most  frightful 
screams,  which  appeared  to  come  from  the  convent,  were 
explained  by  a  priest  next  morning,  by  coolly  saying, 
there  was  another  deranged  nun  in  the  convent;  and  that 
event  was  followed  by  another  secret  removal  of  inmates! 
Perhaps  all  the  deranged  and  all  the  refractory  will  be 
pretty  soon  removed,  and  the  secret  places  be  sufficient- 
ly hidden  to  offer  another  examination  of  the  premises  by 
a  packed  committee.  We  shall  see.  It  required  many 
months  to  arrange  the  Canadian  convents,  for  a  sham 
examination  after  the  disclosures  in  regard  to  them.  It 
may  be  done  sooner  here. 

We  say,  suppose  sister  Isabella  tc  have  been  really 
"perfect  maniac" — or  generally  umono  maniac" — or  only 
a  mono-maniac  "for  upwards  of  Jive  months" — or  least  of 
all  to  have  been  merely  afflicted  with  "general  feebleness 
of  intellect  "  Suppose  it  true,  is  it  any  defence  of  nun- 
neries, either  in  a  moral  or  legal  point  of  view?  Really 
nothing  appears  to  us  more  natural,  than  that  a  long 
course  of  monotonous  imprisonment  should  enfeeble  the 
intellect;  and  if  it  be  attended  with  rigor  and  unkind ness, 
and  given  up  to  filth  and  crimes,  that  the  moral  faculties 


256  THE   CASE   OF  OLEVIA  NEAL 

should  perish,  and  reason  herself  stagger  and  fall.  The 
question  which  interests  society  i^>  this — by  what  author- 
ity, for  what  ends,  and  with  what  effects  arc  these  prt- 
vate  prisons  established?  The  answer,  so  far  as  the  pa- 
pal exposition  of  sister  Isabella^  joes  is  this; — they 
are  in  order  to  run  women  mad,  and  then  on  account  of 
that  madness  claim  the  forcible  custody  of  their  persons! 

There  is  one  aspect  of  this  subject  which  we  n 
think  of  hut  with  pain  and  the  deepest  solicitude.  One 
of  the  great  evils  of  our  times  is  the  general  destruction  of 
all  personal  influences,  and  the  substitution  of  general 
and  organized  control  in  the  stead  of  the  more  healthy 
action  of  the  old  fashioned  condition  of  society.  No  man 
has  any  personal  influence  derived  merely  from  his  virtues 
and  abilities;  no  name  is  sacred,  no  authority  is  revered. 
The  boy  in  the  place  of  public  resort  will  deride  the  coun- 
sel of  the  hoary  head;  and  the  neophyte  will  openly  mock 
the  wisdom  of  experience,  however  amply  fortified.  For 
a  time  the  public  press  arrested  this  terrible  declension, 
and  presented  a  bulwark  around  wrhich  the  better  ele- 
ments of  society  might  have  gathered  for  defence.  At 
length  the  press  itself  has  fallen  in  the  same  struggle,  in 
which  all  personal  influences  had  fallen  before  it.  There 
was  a  time  when  the  press  directed  public  sentiment; 
now  ihe  press  as  such  does  not  exist  as  a  separate  inter- 
est. Every  newspaper  belongs  to  some  opinion, 
some  particular  interest,  some  determinate  object.  Its 
whole  end  is  to  promote  its  own  end;  and  all  society  so 
deeply  feels  this,  that  no  man  regards  what  the  bulk  of 
our  papers  say,  as  true  or  fair;  any  farther  than  he  can 
otherwise  ascertain  the  facts.  Office,  power,  patronage, 
money;  these  are  their  ends.  And  to  gain  these  ends, 
they  speak  or  are  silent,  praise  or  blame,  blowT  hot  and 
blow7  cold,  be  all  things  or  be  nothing — upon  all  other  sub- 
jects but  the  one,  they  are  sold,  or  committed  to.  As  a 
necessary  consequence  of  this  condition  of  the  press, 
Strong  men  and  good  men  fail,  or  avoid  connexion  with 
it;  because  they  will  not  "turn  about  and  wheel  about," 
at  party  dictation;  nor  substitute  party  ends  for  those  of 
virtue,  liberty  and  truth.  An  inferior  class  of  men  be- 
come the  conductors  of  the  press;  men  who  influence  no 


THE   CARMELITE    M  N.  ;2o7 

party;  but  wh  i  are  t6e  mere  echoes  of  their  i^patrcns;JJ 
who  in  their  turn  dismiss  them,  or  set  other  papers  the 
moment  theii  mere  party  interests  require  it.     The  ne 
paper  press  thus  becomes   morselled  out — and   entirely 

loses  all  elevated,  united  and  general  character;  while  par- 
ties and  interests  buy  their    advocacy,  or  absolute!] 
them  up  as  their  notorious  property,  and  make  them   the 
simple  vehicle  of  their  interests,  instead  of  the  real  organs 

of  public  sentiment,  the  real  advocates  of  public  inter- 

This  is  a  most  deplorable  state  of  affairs;  and 
while  truth  obliges  us  to  make  the  statement,  we  do  it 
with  grief  and  shame.  That  it  is  true, — that  the  news- 
paper press  is  to  a  pitiable  degree  destitute  of  real 
strength,  independence,  public  confidence,  and  settled 
influence — no  man  can  doubt  who  has  paid  any  attention 
to  the  subject. 

Never  was  this  fact  more  apparent  than  during  the  re- 
cent excitement  in  this  city.  Never  wTas  any  truth  more 
manifest  than  that  the  real,  settled,  intense  feeling  of  this 
community — was  neither  felt  nor  uttered  by  the  newspa- 
pers. One  good  has  resulted  from  this  great  evil.  The 
Protestants  of  this  city  have  been  obliged  to  see,  that  there 
is  no  Protestant  newspaper  here,  in  any  true  sense  of 
that  term;  and  the  day  we  predict  is  not  remote,  when 
this  mighty  interest  will  be  forced  to  have  its  organ  also.* 
There  is  wealth  enough  and  there  is  interest  enough,  and 
there  would  be  patronage  enough,  to  support  a  first  class 
daily  newspaper  in  Baltimore — which  should  be  the  can- 
did but  fearless  advocate  of  Protestant  sentiments,  and 
Protestant  principles.  Who  will  move  forward  in  this 
indispensable  undertaking? 

We  cannot  close  this  paper  without  expressing  our 
conviction  that  a  great  revolution  has  commenced  in  pub- 
lic sentiment, — and  that  mighty  events  are  brewing  in 
the  hearts  of  the  people.  Men  feel  that  religion  is  an  af- 
fair of  daily  life,  and  that  they  who  corrupt  it  are  the 
enemies  of  God  and  man.  They  perceive  that  while 
they  slept  the  enemy  has  sowed  tares  thickly  amongst  us, 

*Within  a  year  from  the  first  publication  of  this  paragraph — its  predic- 
tion was  fully  verified;  and  that  in  very  peculiar  and  unexpected  manner. 

22* 


258    REVIEW  OF  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  TIi£ 

and  they  are  resolved  now  that  they  arc  fully  awake,  to 
redress  if  possible  their  former  inattention  andunl 
ness.  The  time  is  gone  when  papal  mobs  may  rush  into 
our  churches  and  drive  out  the  worshippers;  or  terrify 
our  citizens  so  that  they  dare  not  meet  to  hear  the  sub- 
ject discussed.  There  is  no  Longer  anj  terror  of  papal 
violence.  There  is  no  longer  any  public  indifference 
even  towards  papal  fooleries;  for  the  people  have  looked 
under  the  apron  of  the  ecclesiastic,  and  to  their  horror, 
see  the  blood  basin  and  the  sacrificial  knife!  Our  ene- 
mies say  it  was  we  who  awakened  this  community  to  the 
sense  of  their  true  condition  and  duty.  They  do  us  over 
much  honor.  The  hand  of  God  is  in  the  whole  progress 
of  this  controversy  between  the  corruptions  of  the  past, 
and  the  light  of  the  advancing  day.  For  three  hundred 
years  it  has  not  ceased  to  agitate  Christendom;  nor  will 
it,  till  the  pope  of  Rome  ceases  to  assert  and  exercise  the 
power  and  authority  of  God  on  earth,  or  at  least  till  the 
countless  array  of  his  subjects  cease  to  reverence  that 
power,  and  to  obey  that  authority.  The  price  of  liberty- 
is  perpetual  vigilance. 


NUMBER  XXVIII. 

REVIEW  OF  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE  ARCH- 
BISHOP AND  THE  MAYOR  OF   BALTIMORE. 

The  following  letters  of  Mr.  Eccleston  and  Gexl. 
Leakin  appeared  in  the  papers  of  Baltimore  almost  co- 
incidently  with  the  publication  in  pamphlet  form  of  the 
preceding  number  of  this  volume.  There  appeared  with 
them  a  letter  to  the  mayorfrom  Will*  Geo,  Ready  Timothy 
Kelly,  Basil  S.  Elder,  Thos.  Meredith,  and  Edwyd  Boyle, 
calling  themselves  iLa  committee"  (but  of  whom,  con 
constat;)  asking  that  the  correspondence  might  be  publish- 
ed:  and  the  mayor's  reply  consenting  thereto.      We  will 


ARCHBISHOI1  AND  THE   MAYOR  OF  BALTIMORE. 


259 


not  trouble  our  readers  with  Ha  tommittee"  at  present; 
but  content  ourselves  with  recording  and  commenting  on 
so  much  of  the  correspondence  as  is  official  and  import- 
ant. 

Baltimore,  August  SI,  L839. 
Sir — We  have  lately  passed  through  scenes  which  caused  me  no  little 
solicitude  for  the  religious  society  under  my  spiritual  jurisdiction,  and  a9 
their  ecclesiastical  organ,  I  take  the  earliest  opportunity,  since  my  return 
1mm  New  York,  to  express  to  you,  and  those  who  so  nobly  co-operated 
with  \ou,  my  thanks  for  the  protection  afforded  to  the  Carmelite  convent. 
This  duty  we  owe  perhaps  more  to  ourselves  than  to  you.  For  in  the 
consciousness  oC  having  faithfully  and  fearlessly  discharged  a  high  official 
obligation  and  in  the  helpless  sex  •/  those  who  claimed  your  protection, 
you  must  find  the  proud  and  ample  recompense  of  a  generous  heart. 

It  is  with  the  deepest  grief  that  I  have  witnessed  those  scenes  of  violence 
which  you  were  called  on  to  repel — scenes  but  little  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  of  the  Catholic  pilgrims  who  first  landed  on  our  shores,  and 
offered  the  open  hand  of  fellowship  to  the  persecuted  of  every  creed  and 
clime.  In  Baltimore,  especially,  I  was  not  prepared  to  expect  them, 
where  the  very  name  of  our  city  reminds  us  of  the  Catholic  founder  of 
Maryland,  one  of  the  earliest  and  truest  friends  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  Yet  it  is  in  this  city  that  we  have  witnessed  a  cruel  and  unmanly 
attack  upon  the  reputation  and  peaceful  abode  of  inoffensive  women, 
many  of  whom  are  descended  from  the  first  colonists  t)f  Maryland,  and 
who,  holding  still  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  have  chosen  to  enter  a  re- 
ligious community  and  divide  their  time  between  the  practices  of  prayer, 
self-denial,  and  the  instruction  of  youth.  Connected,  as  they  are,  for  the 
most  part,  with  the  oldest  and  most  respectable  Catholic  families  of  the 
State,  and  being  unrestrained  in  their  communications  with  their  friends 
and  relatives,  they  have  protectors  out  of  the  convent  and  out  of  the 
priesthood,  able  and  willing  to  guard  their  rights  and  to  invoke  for  them, 
if  necessary,  the  protection  of  the  laws  of  the  state.  But  compassion 
for  the  inmates  of  the  nunnery  was  not  the  motive  of  the  assailants  of  the 
premises.  The  escape  of  an  insane  member  of  their  community  whom 
her  companions  had  watched  over  with  the  affection  of  sisters,  and  who 
every  body  will  now  admit,  would  have  been  far  happier  with  such  friends 
than  elsewhere,  was  made  the  pretext  for  directing  upon  them  the  most 
ruthless  and  terrible  violence,  from  which,  under  Providence,  they  have 
been  rescued  mainly  by  your  promptness  and  energy.  I  rejoice  to  add 
that  every  distinction  of  party  and  creed  was  lost  in  the  general  determi- 
nation to  maintain  the  rights  of  conscience  and  the  supremacy  of  the 
laws.  And  I  should  be  ungrateful,  if  I  did  not  publicly  acknowledge  the 
obligations  which  we  owe  to  the  liberal  and  just  course  pursued  general- 
ly by  the  press  in  the  midst  of  those  exciting  events.  I  am  persuaded 
that  the  manly  and  upright  efforts  of  a  portion  of  it  had  a  powerful  in- 
fluence in  resisting  the  spirit  of  persecution  and  repelling  the  calumnies 
which  were  industriously  circulated  in  order  to  influence  the  public  mind 
and  to  urge  on  the  reckless  to  deeds  of  violence. 

It  would  extend  this  communication  unreasonably,  if  I  attempted  to 
enumerate  the  many  persons  whose  generous  exertions  came  under  my 
own  observation.     I   must  therefore  beg  you  to  convey  my  thanks  to  the 


260    review  of  Tin:  correspondence  between  the 

citizens  generally,  and  10   1 1 1  o s <3  more  especially  who  were  personally  en- 
!  in  the    defence  of  the  convent,  lor  the  protection  so  eliiciently  af- 
forded in  the  hour  of  danger. 

I  hare  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  very  respectfully  and  gratefully,  your 
obedient  servant, 

Samuel   I .       .ebtoit, 
Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 
Genera]  S.   C.   LbAKI  n  . 

Mayor  of  the  City  of  Baltimore. 

Mayor's  Office,  vSept.  7th,  1 

.Most  Reverend  Sir: — I  have  received  and  read  with  much  satisfac- 
tion your  letter  approving  of  the  measures  pursued  for  protecting  the  Car- 
melite convent  in  this  city  and  its  respectable  inhabitants,  from  threaten- 
ed outrage;  and  feel  grateful  on  behalf  of  those  fellow  citizens  who  so 
cheerfully  united  in  rendering  those  measures  effectual,  for  the  kind  ex- 
pression of  your  thanks.  It  is  but  just,  however,  for  me  to  state  that 
we  only  performed,  on  that  occasion,  a  duty  which  every  citizen  of  Balti- 
more, and  especially  every  officer  and  member  of  the  city  police  is  bound 
at  all  times  to  perform  to  the  best  of  his  judgment  and  ability. 

The  constitution  and  laws  of  our  state  entitle  to  protection  from  un- 
lawful violence,  persons  of  every  description,  without  distinction  as  to 
sex,  age,  condition,  religious  denomination  or  political  party;  and,  in  like 
manner,  every  owner  of  property  without  exception,  is  entitled  to  have 
it  protected  from  destruction  or  injury.  It  is  both  my  duty  and  my  in- 
clination, as  chief  officer  of  this  city,  impartially,  and  with  all  necessary 
promptness  to  obey,  support  and  enforce  the  constitution  and  the  laws, 
to  the  utmost  extent  of  the  powers  and  the  means  entrusted  to  me,  which 
I  believe  to  be  amply  sufficient,  while  I  am  supported,  as  I  feel  confident 
I  shall  be  on  all  such  occasions,  by  the  efficient  aid  of  a  very  large  ma- 
jority of  my  fellow  citizens  of  every  sect  and  of  every  party. 

During  the  recent  scenes  which  you  witnessed  and  90  deeply  and  justly 
regret,  the  disposition  to  commit  acts  of  violence  was  so  strongly  and 
openly  manifested,  it  was  obvious  that  nothing  but  the  conviction  of  a 
powerful  resistance,  dangerous  to  the  persons  and  even  to  the  lives  of  the 
assailants,  could  have  restrained  them  from  proceeding  to  the  commission 
of  actual  outrage  on  persons  and  property.  Happily  the  result  on  that 
occasion  was  such  as  I  hope  and  trust  will  satisfy  you  and  the  religious 
society  under  your  spiritual  jurisdiction,  that  they  may  feel  assured 
of  enjoying,  in  Baltimore,  that  protection  and  security  as  to  their  persons 
and  property,  and  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  which  in  common 
and  equally  with  all  others  they  have  a  lawful  and  just  right  to  expect. 
The  result  will  also  have  given  a  gratifying  proof  to  the  friends  of  humani- 
ty that  such  protection  can  be  surely  etVected  under  most  alarming  cir- 
cumstances, without  serious  injury  to  the  most  reckless  of  the  criminal  as- 
sailants, and  that  it  may  not  often  be  necessary  for  the  supporters  of  the 
law  to  be  the  punishers  of  those  who  wantonly  disobey  them, 
I  am  sincerely  and  respectfully 

Your  obedient  servant, 

S.  C.  Leakin,  Mayor. 

To  the  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

The  reader  will  not  Tail  to  observe  that  these  letters  re- 
veal a  stale  of  public  feeling   as  confessedly  existing  in 


ARCHBISHOP  AND  THE  MAYOR  OF  BALTIMORE.   261 

Baltimore — which  those  who  have  been  observant  of  the 
course  of  events  must  have  noticed  before.     There  was 

a  time  in  this  good  city,  when  the  Papists  could  rush  into 
a  Protestant  church  in  Kutaw  street   and  drive  out  the 

worshippers,  and  even  forbid  and  defy  the  Ke\ .  Mr.  Smith 
(once  a  Papal  priest)  to  preach  in  this  city.  There  was 
a  time  when  Priest  Gildea  could  boldly  intrude  into 
another  Protestant  assembly,  worshipping  in  East  Balti- 
more street — and  during  the  exercises,  publicly  revile  and 
insult  the  officiating  minister.  There  was  along  period 
of  time — during  which  no  man  was  safe,  who  ventured 
to  call  in  question  the  doctrines  of  Papism,  even  in  the 
exercise  of  official  duty;  and  within  a  few  years,  a  member 
of  the  Baltimore  bar,  refused  to  appear  for  a  child,  kid- 
napped and  secreted  by  certain  Papists,  because,  as  he 
said — his  house  would  be  burned  over  his  head.  Now, 
we  have  a  high  official  expression  of  thanks,  by  the  "ec- 
clesiastical organ"  of  the  Papists  in  all  this  wide  empire, 
— "for  protection" — afforded  to  a  portion  of  that  religious 
society. 

While  we  confidently  assert  our  conviction  that  this 
whole  matter  proceeds  on  a  totally  false  assumption; 
while  we  are  ready  to  risk  the  assertion  that  no  Protestant 
in  this  city  has  any  desire  to  molest  any  Papist  in  the 
lawful  exercise  of  his  equal  and  sacred  religious  rights; 
yet  we  can:,  t  avoid  noticing  the  salutary  change,  which 
has  been  so  recently  and  so  obviously  produced  on  the 
minds  of  the  Papists  themselves.  It  is  good  for  them  to 
feel  at  length,  that  the  Protestants  knowr  and  will  main- 
tain their  own  rights  and  privileges;  that  they  are  weary 
of  insult  and  dictation;  that  they  see  the  necessity  of  re- 
pressing an  insolence  too  long  endured  from  an  intolerant 
and  bigoted  minority;  and  that  equality  before  the  law  is 
imperatively  demanded  by  the  general  voice  of  society. 
We  rejoice  to  know  that  Papists  are  as  certain  of  protec- 
tion, as  we  are  ourselves,  in  every  lawful  act;  but  we  re- 
joice also  that  they  have  discovered,  that  like  us,  they 
are  entitled  to  no  more.  That  society  is  safe,  when  every 
citizen  confides  in  the  law;  and  where  every  law  is  so 
administered  as  to  justify  that  confidence. 

It  must  however  be  conceded  that  many  things  which 
may  be  strictly  lawful — may  also   be  deeply   offensive  to 


:2o:2     RE\  IEW  OF  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE 

and  that  no  rule  of  private  morality  or  public 
virtue  is  better  settled,  than  thai  such  things  become  im- 
proper when  they  become  i  -  of  public  scandal  and 

injury.      The  laws  omit  all  mention  o£  many  things,  and 
provide  no  pmi'hliincni  for   man;*   others — which 
could  not  endure;  and  he  is  a  bad  citiz*  -ill  per- 

sisi  in  such  acts  when  their  obvious  ?ulse 

—without    any  adequate  necessity  i 
corresponding  advantage.     Now  supposing  Mr. 
ton  to  be  so  deeply  grieved  as  he  says,  by    l  rente 

in  our  city;  why  does  he  persist  in  setting  up  new  and 
extensive  establishments,  which  have  every  where  pro- 
duced popular  excitements,  and  will  continually  do  it?  No 
sentiment  is  more  firmly  fixed  in  the  minds  of  men,  than 
that  nunneries  are  sinks  of  moral  pollution;  and  that  nuns 
are  victims  of  priestly  licentiousness  and  cruelty.  And 
yet  no  part  of  the  papal  operations  in  Baltimore  is  more 
sedulously  cultivated  and  enlarged,  than  these  nunneries; 
while  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the  same  feeling 
of  deep  hostility  to  those  establishments  which  has  per- 
vaded every  portion  of  the  civilized  earth,  and  which  so 
strongly  and  so  justly  pervades  this  community;  will  be 
liable  an  every  emergency  to  manifest  itself  on  the  part 
of  certain  portions  of  society,  in  what  Mr.  Eccleston  calls 
"ruthless  and  terrible  violence,  cruel  and  unmanly  at- 
tacks."— Cannot  the  priesthood  do  without  nunneries?  If 
they  can — why  persist,  to  the  manifest  jeopardy  oi  public 
order,  in  that  which  society  rejects  and  abhors,  even  sup- 
posing the  laws  have  not  provided  a  remedy  against  them? 
If  they  cannot, — what  a  perfidious  lie  is  the  pretence  of 
priestly  chastity? 

If  we  were  not  liable  to  misrepresentation,  we  would 
not  consider  it  necessary  to  say  that  we  utterly  oppose  all 
irregular  movements  of  society — for  any  purpose  what- 
ever. The  law  as  it  is,  honestly  administered;  the  law 
changed  by  the  medium  of  the  ballot  box;  the  ballot  box, 
law  and  all,  subjected  to  fundamental  changes,  when 
needful,  only  in  a  sober  and  well  ordered  way,  this  is  our 
political  creed.  Fl  is  the  creed  of  liberty,  of  the  revolu- 
tion, of  the  Bible.  We  say  thus  much  also,  that  we  may 
the  more  distinctly  and    emphatically  add  the  expression 


ARCHBISHOP  AND  THE  MAYOR  OF  BALTIMORE.   263 

of  an  honest  indignation  against  the  Jesuitical   attei 
of  Mr.  EccleSton — to  crealtethe  i  nj  por- 

tion  of  the  Protestants  of  this  pit)  erer  intended  to  pef>- 
petrate  the  least  personal  i  gainst  the  nuns  them- 

selves, lie  speaks  of  "the  helpless  m\  rt  flu  51  who 
claimed"  the  mayor's  protect  ion;  as  if  he  did  not  per- 
fectly well  know,  that  the  most  violent  of  the  people  a>ked 
nothing  more,  than  that  legal  and  svjlicicnt  protection 
might  be  given  to  the  nuns.  He  says,  "we  have  wit- 
sed  a  cruel  and  unmanly  attack  upon  the  reputation 
and  peaceful  abode  of  unoffending  women;''  when  he  is 
as  certain,  as  he  is  of  his  own  existence,  that  it  was  not 
against  these  unhappy  women,  but  against  their  supposed 
seducers  and  jailers  that  the  public  indignation  was 
roused;  and  that  "their  peaceful  abode3'  was  in  danger, 
only  because  and  so  far  as,  it  was  believed  to  be  their 
prison.  No  Protestant  in  Baltimore  ever  had  a  thought 
of  injury  to  any  nun — because  she  chose  "to  enter  a  re- 
ligious community"---or  because  she  chose  to  stay  there; 
and  it  is  a  gratuitous  calumny  for  Mr.  Eccleston  to  say 
that  any  Protestant  directed  "the  most  ruthless  and  ter- 
rible violence,'  or  any  violence  at  all,  against  any  nun. 
We  were  amazed  to  find  the  mayor  in  his  reply  to  this 
deliberate  perversion  of  notorious  facts,  countenancing 
instead  of  rebuking  the  falsehood.  Does  General 
Leakin  believe — and  will  he  venture  to  tell  his  fellowT- 
citizens,  when  he  again  solicits  those  suffrages,  for  which 
this  billing  and  cooing  with  the  archbishop  is — we  ven- 
ture to  suggest — a  bad  bate;*  that  out  of  the  thousands 

*If  it  was  a  bate,  it  utterly  and  wofully  failed.  Less  than  a  year  after 
the  first  publication  of  this  article — and  at  the  first  municipal  election  in 
Baltimore,  after  the  Olevia  JVeal  case  and  correspondence;  there  was  a 
total  revolution  in  the  politics  of  the  city.  The  facts  of  the  case  justify 
us  in  making  three  reflections,  which,  we  venture  to  predict,  the  future 
will  fully  verify;  as  we  think  the  past  has  already  proved  their  truth. — 
].  The  Papists  of  this  country  as  a  body,  have  no  fixed  political  princi- 
ples,— but  are  ready  to  bargain  and  sell  their  political  support,  to  any 
man  or  party,  who  will  do  most  for  papism  2.  They  are,  as  a  body, 
utterly  unworthy  of  confidence;  and  have  neither  sagacity,  fidelity,  nor 
truth,  as  political  allies.  3.  The  Protestant  feeling  and  principles  of  the 
country,  will,  first  or  last,  bring  to  political  ruin,  every  man  and  party, 
That  manifests  the  east  treachery  to  the  glorious  principles  of  Protestant 
truth,  liberty,  and  right,  upon  which  all  our  institutions  rest. 


264  REVIEW  OF  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE 

and  tens  of  thousands  in  this  city  who  were  deeply  in* 
terested  in  the  fate  of  Isabella  Neal — any  single  man, 
or  at  least  any  number  sufficient  to  justify  a  general  and 
unqualified  charge,  meditated,  much  less  "threatened  out- 
rage" on  the  "respectable  inhabitants"  of  "the  Carmelite 
Convent?"  That  many  enraged  persons  may  have  medi- 
tated the  destruction  of  the  convent  itself,  we  will  not 
deny;  though  we  do  not  know  the  fact.  And  that  the 
conduct  of  the  mayor  in  preventing  such  an  act  was  pro- 
per and  most  commendable — we  readily  admit.  But  the 
mayor  has  taken  a  serious  task  upon  his  hands,  in  en- 
dorsing the  statements  of  the  archbishop.  The  truth  is, 
as  the  whole  city  knows,  that  the  universal  feeling 
amongst  all  true  Protestants,  was  profound  sympathy  for 
the  poor  nuns;  and  that  one  great  cause  of  the  intense  ex- 
citement, was  the  rumor,  said  to  have  originated  with  the 
escaped  nun,  that  several  others  were  detained  against 
their  wishes.  It  is  a  pretty  story  indeed,  for  these  pure 
and  holy  priests  to  outrage  society  by  their  treatment  of 
their  nuns;  and  when  public  sympathy  explodes  upon  the 
priests,  for  them  to  have  the  audacity  to  say,  the  indigna- 
tion is  levelled  against  the  nuns! 

Mr.  Eccleston  shows  clearly  by  the  course  of  his  re- 
marks, that  he  did  not  himself  believe  the  statements  we 
have  been  exposing;  else  why  take  so  much  pains  to 
prove  that  the  nuns  have  other  protectors  besides  the  mob, 
which  as  he  argues,  was  only  prevented  by  force,  from 
doing  violence  to  them?  This  is  a  very  curious  argu- 
ment to  use  against  meditated  violence, — the  victim  doc3 
not  need  your  protection!  Fie  Mr.  Eccleston;  a  Jesuit, 
not  to  say  an  archbishop,  ought  to  reason  better. 

But  let  us  examine  a  little,  this  new  defence;  for  the 
statement,  if  true,  is  really  important.  These  nuns,  says 
the  person  under  whose  "jurisdiction"  they  are,  "being 
unrestrained  in  their  communications  with  their  friends 
and  relatives,  they  have  protectors  out  of  the  convent  a?id 
out  of  the  priesthood,  able  and  ivilling  to  guard  their  rights 
and  to  invoke  for  them,  if  necessary,  the  protection  of  the 
laws  of  the  state.1'  In  the  foregoing  part  of  the  same 
sentence,  he  had  said  "they  are  connected  for  the  most 
party  with  the  oldest  and  most  respectable  Catholic  families 


ARCHBISHOP  AND  THE  MA  YOB   OJ     P>ALrlMOI{l-:. 

in  the  state."     Now  tteomit  all  notice  of  the  fact  that 
the  archbishop  himself,  being  i  ite  from  the  Pro- 

ant  faith,  furnishes  in  his  own  person  thfc  strongest 
possible  proof,  that  families  not  Catholic,  nor  ye1  "the 
oldest  and  most  respectable;'5  have  a  direct  personal  in- 
terest in  all  the  affairs  of  a  body,  cue  of  whose  chief  ob- 
jects is  to  proselyte  Protestant  children.  We  omit  also, 
all  comment  on  the  suspicious  anxiety  manifested  by  the 
archbishop,  whose  "jurisdiction"  is  despotic  over  the 
"religions  society" — committed  to  his  hands,  not  by 
their  own  free  choice — but  by  the  mere  dictation  of  a 
foreign  tyrant;  that  all  other  authorities  should  stand 
aloof — and  all  profane  apprehensions  that  his  sway  may 
not  be  immaculate,  be  rebuked  and  silenced.  We  come 
directly  to  the  point,  and  assert  that  the  statement  of  Mr. 
Eccleston  is  deceptious  and  untrue,  and  can,  we  think,  be 
clearly  shown  to  be  both. 

It  is  deceptious:  for  contrary  to  the  assertion  of  the 
archbishop,  it  is  impossible  for  any  effectual  protection  to 
be  extended  to  these  nuns — by  friends  "out  of  the  con- 
vent and  out  of  the  priesthood" — even  if  they  were  so 
disposed;  and  unhappily,  the  priests  take  effectual  care, 
that  if  such  friends  be  Papists,  they  shall  never  be  so  dis- 
posed. What  protection  has  been  extended  to  Olevia 
Jfeal)  by  friends  "out  of  the  convent  and  out  of  the  priest- 
hood?" Where  is  she  now?  Answer  to  that  Mr.  Ec- 
cleston. Where  is  she?  And  how  came  she  where  she 
is?  Her  "protector"  Col.  Brent,  posted  up  to  Balti- 
more; got  ex  parte  certificates  contradictory  of  each  other, 
insufficient  in  law  and  in  reason,  none  of  them  sworn  to, 
and  no  cross  examination  permitted;  on  which  certificates 
he  took  his  "perfect  maniac"  kinswoman,  and  placed  her 
precisely  where  she  had  most  earnestly  desired  never  to 
go  again,  viz:  under  the  power  of  nuns  and  priests. — 
And  where  she  may  be  now^  who  can  tell?  If  he  had 
taken  any  other  course,  he  would  have  subjected  himself 
to  the  whole  vengeance  of  the  priesthood;  besides  abet- 
ting at  least  indirectly,  the  exposure  of  his  church.  As 
a  good  Papist  he  did  not  dare  to  do  either;  nor  will  any- 
good  Papist  ever  act  otherwise.  This,  let  it  be  remem- 
bered, is  the  treatment  which  nuns  receive  from  their  na- 
23 


2GiJ    REVIEW  OF  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETW  Ll.N  THE 

iural  protectors  "out  of  the  convent  and  out  of  the  priest- 
hood;'3 when  they  have  succeeded,  aftei  nineteen  years  of 
horrible  sufferings,  in  effecting  their  escape.  They  are 
proved  to  be  insane— withdrawn  from  public  observation 
—secreted— -and  probably  sent  back.  Things  have  trans- 
pired in  the  convent,  which  it  would  degrade  the  priest- 
hood and  the  sect  to  have  revealed;  therefore  the  pri< 
dare  not  permit  a  witness  to  testify;   nor  th<  3  of 

that  witness,  if  they  be  Papists,  to  allow  her  the  Ddeaas 
and  opportunity  of  so  doing.  Every  eloped  nun  is  always 
insane;  and  always  will  be.  And  their  friends  uout  of 
the  convent  and  oat  of  the  priesthood"  will  always  treat 
them  as  "perfect  maniac"  or  lt mono -maniac"— -or  any 
other  sort  of  maniac,  that  the  security  of  their  priests  and 
their  sect  may  be  supposed  to  require. 

But  we  repeat,  the  statement  of  the  archbishop  is  de- 
ceptions; for  there  is  no  adequate  mode  in  which  protec- 
tion can  be  extended  to  the  inmates  of  his  convents,  either 
by  their  friends,  or  by  the  laws  of  the  country.  One  of 
the  vows  of  all  the  orders  of  professed,  is  obedience;  ab- 
solute, unquestioning,  unqualified  obedience.  Here  is 
an  irresistible  moral  barrier.  But  suppose  it  removed. 
To  whom  is  the  nun,  who  becomes  dissatisfied,  to  com- 
plain? To  her  confessor?  Surely  it  is  most  natural  to 
expect  that  her  seducer  and  accomplice-- -or  if  she  has  re- 
sisted his  vile  solicitations,  her  oppressor  and  persecutor; 
surely  it  is  most  clear,  that  he  will  be  her  messenger  to 
an  indignant  relative,  who  at  the  first  motion  will  cut  his 
ears  off, — or  to  some  generous  advocate,  who  will  forth- 
with arraign  him.  How  natural  and  simple  is  this  me- 
thod of  getting  redress  in  a  convent!  Let  her  then  com- 
plain to  her  sister  nuns,  or  to  the  mother  abbess.  Yes, 
they  will  be  likely  to  aid  her  no  doubt;  and  are  fully  em- 
powered to  do  so;  as  we  shall  see  directly!  Did  Mr.  Ec- 
cleston  ever  try  topcrsuade  a  tiger  to  let  go  a  lamb?  It 
is  a  very  simple  and  successful  effort  of  eloquence,  is  it 
not?  Eurydice  was  charmed  nearly  out  of  hell  by  the 
lyre  oi  Orpheus;  but  we  protest  we  never  heard  of  a  nun, 
whose  sorrows  and  woes  so  prevailed,  as  to  cause  the 
Pluto  and  Proserpine  of  her  dark  prison  house,  to  send 
her  forth  smiling  towards  the  realms  of  day. — Let  her 


ARCHBISHOP  AND  THE  MAYOR  OF  HALTIMOUE.     2G7 

then  complain  to  some  casual  visitor,  through  the  grate! 
Surely:  and  be  told  on  by  the  sister  spy,  constantly  at  her 
elbow,  and  sent  to  do  "usual  pena  pooi    Olevia 

JYeal3  was!  ( )r  suppose  two  agree  and  complain  togethr 
er,  to  some  idle  visitor  accidentally  thrown  in  conv< 
With  them.  If  the  visitor  b  i  a  Papist,  as  is  most  likely — 
protection,  redress,  and  escape,  are  of  course  certain!  It 
a  Protestant,  and  unlike  too  many  Protestants,  one  who 
has  bowels  to  feel  tor  human  woes;  one  who  has  no  fear 
of  losing  votes,  subscribers,  or  custom;  one  who  is  not 
afraid  of  public  reproach,  nor  private  assassination;  if  by 
it  should  chance  to  be  such  a  Protestant — what, 
we  ask  could  he  or  she  do?  Nothing:  we  solemnly  aver 
— nothing.  He  may  return  with  a  writ,  if  he  can  get 
one,  whit  most  probable  he  cannot.     But  can  he 

identify  the  woman?  who  has  been  already  secreted  or 
substituted  by  another — or  privately  carried  to  Einmits- 
burg  or  Georgetown — or  made  "perfect  maniac" — or 
even  "mono-maniac."  He  may  tell  the  facts  publicly  by 
word  of  mouth,  or  in  print  if  any  paper  will  publish  them, 
— which  probably  they  will  not.  And  then  for  his  pains, 
he  shall  be  called  by  Protestants,  a  seditious,  uncharita- 
ble, persecuting  bigot;  and  be  marked  as  an  object  of  pa- 
pal vengeance. 

We  do  then  manifestly  see,  that  the  archbishop's  state- 
ments in  regard  to  the  protection  which  may  be  extend- 
ed to  these  nuns ,  are  deceptions;  wholly  and  .totally  de- 
ceptions. We  will  now  proceed  to  show  that  they  are 
untrue,  simply  and  specifically  untrue.  They  are  untrue; 
(1)  In  saying  that  these  nuns  are  "unrestrained  in  their 
communications  with  their  friends  and  relatives;"  (2)  In 
saying  that  they  are  considered  by  the  Papal  church,  or 
their  own  friends  being  Papists,  as  subject  to  or  placed 
under  "the  protection  of  the  laws  of  the  State"— in  any 
such  sense,  that  their  superiors  can  be  compelled  to  treat 
them  as  free  Americans. 

It  is  quite  useless  to  debate  about  a  matter  of  fact;  and 
there  is  no  necessity  for  even  an  apparent  contest  about 
veracity  between  Mr.  Eccleston  and  ourself.  That  pre- 
late has  solemnly  sworn,  as  one  of  the  conditions  on 
which  he  received  and  holds  his  present  dignity  from  the 


268    REVIEW  OF  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE 

pope  (  i  Rome,  uthat  lie  trill  render  absolute  obedience  to 
the  constitutions  and  precepts  of  hohj    mother  church." — 

(Polano  p.  733,  folio  edition  "of  1129.)  Now  if  he  will 
examine  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Trent — he  will  find 
in  the  xxv.  Session,  J)e  Regularibus et Monialibus,  two 
and  twenty  chapters  expressly  settling  the  subject  matter 
of  the  present  question.  Some  of  the  things  determined 
(statue n da)  by  the  council  in  these  terrible  chapters — 
the  following.     In  Chap.  i.  there  is  a  m<  large 

that  the  institutions  for  the  regular  orders  be  not  allowed 
to  lose  their  importance  and  activity;  a  rule  well  kept  by 
Mr.  Eccleston.  In  Chap.  hi.  it  is  determined  that  no 
house  for  the  professed  shall  be  erected  in  any  diocese, 
without  the  license  of  the  bishop,  first  had;  which  makes 
the  archbishop  responsible  for  the  erection  of  the  new 
prison  near  the  Monument,  with  its  dungeon  deep  enough 
for  two  rows  of  cells,  one  above  the  other;  and  for  priest 
Gildea's  monastery,  in  Front  street,  so  located  as  to  be 
able  to  carry  offby  boats  on  Joneses  Falls,  all  the  dirt  from 
all  his  excavations, — even  if  he  should  have  so  odd  a 
fancy  as  to  run  a  communication  over  to  Aisquith  street. 
Chap.  iv.  settles  that  no  regular  under  any  pretext  shall 
go  to  any  other  place,  or  submit  to  any  other  person, 
whether  prelate,  prince,  university,  or  community,  nor 
use  any  privilege  or  faculty  bestowed  by  others, — with- 
out the  superior's  consent.  That  if  any  shall  do  so,  they 
shall  be  severely  punished,  at  the  discretion  of  the  supe- 
rior, as  disobedient.  That  they  shall  not  leave  their  con- 
vents, even  on  the  pretext  of  going  to  their  superiors,  un- 
less they  shall  have  been  sent  or  called  by  them.  That 
if  they  be  found  without  such  a  mandate,  in  writing — 
they  shall  be  punished  by  the  bishop  of  the  place,  as  de- 
serters of  their  institutions.  Chap.  v.  orders,  with  a 
solemn  appeal  to  the  divine  judgment,  and  a  threat  of 
eternal  damnation— that  the  inclosures  around  the  con- 
vents shall  be  restored  and  kept  in  order;  and  that  dis- 
obedient and  refractory  nuns  shall  be  kept  in  by  eccle- 
siastical censures,  and  oilier  punishments  (aliasque 
pffiNAs,)  according  to  the  necessity  of  the  case,  the  aid  of 
the  secular  aim  being  invoked  it  necessary,  to  this  end. 
And  all  Christian  princes  are  exhorted,  and  secular   ma- 


ARCHBISHOP   AND   TH  I     BALTIMORE. 

d,  under 

pain  oi'  (  to  incurrei  .  d  the 

That  do  nun  after  her  pr<  shall 

go  out  oilier  con 

text™ unl<  lawful  cause  approved  bj 

bishop.      That  no  one,  of  whatever  ranh\  condition)  >< 
age,  shall  enter  the  inctosure  of  a  convent^   without  a  li- 
cense in  writingfrom  tlie  bishojj  or  superior,  under  pat 
excommunication.  red.      And  such  licen- 

ses should  be  given  only  in  cases  of  necessity;  and  can- 
not be  granted,  by  any  but  the  superioi  or  bishop,  in  any 
manner  or  for  any  purpose.  Chap.  xiv.  points  out  cer- 
tain cases  in  which  all  _  rs  (monks  and  nuns)  si 
be  severely  punished,  (severe puniatur.)  Chap.  xv. 
fixes  the  age  of  profession  at  sixteen  years;  a  papal  sta- 
tute contrary  to  the  law  of  God  and  of  nature,  which  our 
state,  to  its  lasting  infamy,  has  copied  into  its  statute 
book.  Chap,  xviii.  admits  that  there  are  cases,  in 
which  it  is  expressly  lawful  to  coerce  virgins  and  widows, 
to  enter  monasteries  and  take  the  vow  against  their  will. 
Chap.  xix.  provides  that  if  any  regular  shall  pretend 
that  he  or  she  took  the  vows  through  force  or  fraud,  or 
shall  even  say  that  it  was  done  before  the  proper  age,  or 
any  thing  of  the  kind;  or  shall  wish  to  lay  aside  their  dress 
for  any  cause,  or  even  to  depart  with  it  on,  without  the 
permission  of  the  superior;  they  shall  not  be  heard---ex- 
cept  within  five  years  next  after  the  day  of  their  profes- 
sion; nor  even  then,  but  upon  the  regular  bringing  of  the 
alledged  causes  before  the  superior  and  bishop.  But  if 
they  shall  have  beforehand  laid  aside  their  habit,  they 
shall  not  be  permitted  to  alledge  any  cause;  but  shall  be 
forced  to  return  to  the  monastery,  and  be  punished  as  an 
apostate;  being  denied  in  the  mean  time  every  privilege  of 
their  religion. 

It  may  seem  needless  to  add  any  thing  to  such  and  so 
decisive  testimony--- and  yet  we  will  refer  to  the  only  re- 
maining written  authority  in  the  papal  church,  which  is 
equally  venerated  with  that  of  the  council  of  Trent. — 
We  mean  the  Canon  Laic — the  great  repository  of  papal 
jurisprudence.  If  Mr.  Eccleston  will  consult  the  Cor- 
pus Juris  Canonici,  Vol.  n.,  of  the  Lyons  edition  of 
■23* 


270    REVIEW  OF  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  TliL 

17^7,  in  the  Tractatus  de  Ecclesia,  Tilulus  XXII,  he  will 
find  107  folio  pages  of  Latin,  from  page  403  to  5099  treat- 
ing upon  the  general  subject  "De Religiosis."  In  those 
107  pages  there  are  more  than  one  hundred  and  seven 

flat  contradictions  of  what  he  has  Bald,  in  the  matter  now 
Under  discussion.  We  make  at  present  a  Single  Citation. 
On  folio  421,    Txtulus  xxn.    Caput  in.   Sectio  m.  §  xi. 

line  Constitutio,  8fC.;  it  is  declared  to  he  the  mind  of  the 
church  "that  no  professed  person,  however  disobedient 
to  his  superiors,  can  be  left  to  himself  so  as  to  become 
his  own  master,  and  be  free  to  go  where  he  pleases,  and 
serve  his  own  depraved  desires,  to  the  disgrace  of  the  re- 
ligious state,  especially  of  his  own  order,  and  to  the  pub- 
lic scandal;  nay  rather  this  is  the  desire  of  holy  mother, 
that  places  may  be  provided  into  which  the  incorrigible 
may  be  received,  or  forcibly  shut  up  (coacti  includantur,) 
and  that  as  far  as  possible  she  may  provide  for  their  safe- 
ty and  for  that  of  others,  by  removing  the  sick  sheep 
from  the  midst  of  the  faithful,  lest  the  well  be  infected." 

If  our  space  allowed,  or  it  was  at  all  necessary,  we 
could  multiply  citations  without  limit,  from  the  Canon 
Law,  which  Mr.  Eccleston  has  sworn  he  receives  and 
will  execute  to  his  uttermost  power;  which  should  dis- 
prove in  the  most  positive  manner,  his  assertions  and  in- 
sinuations, as  to  the  free  agency  of  nuns,  or  other  profess- 
ed, or  indeed  any  of  his  "subjects;"  as  all  persons  in  his 
diocese  who  have  embraced  the  ecclesiastical  state  are 
considered,  by  himself,  by  them,  and  by  the  pope  to  be. 
We  will  cite  one  or  two  places,  which  must  till  the  sim- 
ple hearts  of  American  readers  with  amazement;  and 
ought  to  cover  every  priest  with  dismay.  In  Vol.  iii.  of 
the  Corpus  Juris  Canonici — Pars  quinta,  de  Judiciis, — 
Titulus  vi.  of  Pars  ii.  Sec.  vi.  p.  561;  this  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  section:  "That  ecclesiastical  judges  have 
power  to  commit  accused  persons  to  prison;  yea  to  condemn 
them  to  perpetual  imprisonment."  The  V.  head  of  this 
section  is  in  these  words,  "In  crimes  proceeding  from  in- 
continmce,  and  in  atrocious  offences  requiring  deposition 
or  degradation,  when  the  avoiding  of  justice  by  flight  is 
to  be  apprehended,  andso  the  necessity  for  personal  deten- 
tion arises,  the  Bishop  may  proceed  to  summary  reforma- 


ARCHBISHOP  AND  THE   MAYOR   <   K    I ALTIMORE.      271 

tion  and  //   detention.      Concil    Trid.  Sess.    xxv. 

Sec.  £,  Ete  Reform,  Cap  6,  raed."  ruder  the  \ii.  head 
of  the  same  section  in  the  second  paragraph  cited  i 

Glossa,  "In  (5.  J)e  Piuris  Capy  Quamms,  Id).  \  .  Tit  (J, 
Cap  3,"  are  these  words,  4<  The  ecclesiastical  judgi  > 

condemn  his  subjects  to  do  penance,  on  the  bread  of  sorrow 
and  the  tcater  of  affliction,  in  temporary  or  jj<  rpetual  im- 
prisonment." The  last  paragraph  of  the  viii.  head  of  the 
section,  which  is  also  the  end  of  the  diabolical  section  it- 
self, is  in  these  words,  "Perpetual  imprisonment  is  in  the 
place  of  the  ancient  practice  of  confinement  in  a  monaste- 
ry, and  was  introduced  for  the  very  same  end,  viz:  that 
the  accused  person,  might  be  removed  from  all  occasions 
of  crime  and  of  public  scandal" 

Now  in  the  venerable  names  of  honour,  integrity  and 
truth, — by  which  courtesy  obliges  us,  as  far  as  possible, 
to  suppose  a  Jesuit  to  be  governed, — religion  being  out 
of  the  question;  we  demand,  how  was  it  possible  for 
archbishop  Eccleston  to  make  the  statements  he  did,  after 
swearing  to  enforce  the  enactments  we  have  now  cited, 
and  hundreds  like  them?  It  grieves  us  to  be  obliged  to 
expose  such  shallow  and  unblushing  perfidiousness.  But 
we  confidently  expect  the  verdict  of  every  honest  man — 
that  it  is  deceptions  and  false  to  say  these  poor  nuns  have 
"unrestrained  communications" — with  friends  out  of  the 
convent;  and  that  in  the  contemplation  of  the  Papal 
church,  its  decrees,  or  its  prelates,  they  can  claim  "the 
protection  of  the  laics  of  the  state"— against  their  vows, 
their  superior,  their  bishop,  or  their  church. 

Indeed  the  " archbishop  of  Baltimore"  as  he  arrogant- 
ly calls  himself,  shows  by  his  very  manner  of  speaking 
on  this  as  on  the  former  subject;  that  he  was  conscious 
of  "paltering  in  a  double  sense."  He  talks  of  a  "re- 
ligious society"  under  his  "jurisdiction;"  and  the  mayor 
of  the  city  in  his  reply  reiterates  the  notion  of  that  "ju- 
risdiction." In  the  case  of  the  mayor  we  set  down  the 
use  of  this  term,  to  the  score  of  mere  civility;  presuming 
that  he  is  not  deeply  versed  in  Papal  jurisprudence.  But 
the  archbishop  no  doubt  uses  it  considerately,  and  in  his 
mouth  it  is  most  pregnant  with  meaning. 

We  shall  lay  no  particular  stress  on  the  arrogance  of  a 
man's  calling  himself  "archbishop  of  Baltimore  "  when 


272  REVIEW  OF  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE 

four-fifths  of  the  people  of  the  city — do  not  belong  to 
his  heretical  sect;  though  if  we  should  call  ourself 
"Pastor  of  Baltimore"  none  would  be  more  forward  than 
Papists,  to  cry  out  against  the  pretension  as  audacious. 
Nor  shall  we  stop  to  show  that  Baltimore  is  not  a  church 
but  a  city;  and  therefore,  if  Mr.  Eccleston  would  follow 
S(  ripture,  common  sense,  or  historical  truth,  he  should 
call  himself  "Archbishop  of  the  Romans  in  Baltimore" 
oruofthe  Roman  church  in  Baltimore" — instead  oi"Jlrch- 
bishop  of  Baltimore"  Neither  do  we  suppose  it  to  be 
needful  in  this  connexion  to  show,  that  the  practice  of  call- 
ing men  bishops  of  the  place,  instead  of  bishops  of  the 
churches  of  God  in  such  and  such  places— grewT  up  with, 
and  sprang  out  of  the  papal  apostacy;  and  that  it  reveals 
at  once  the  secularity  and  the  ambition  of  that  antichristi- 
an  hierarchy.  Nor  finally,  will  we  pause  to  showr,  that 
all  these  things  are  aggravated  in  their  force  and  conse- 
quence, by  the  fact,  that  this  "archbishop  of  Baltimore" 
—received  that  title,  dignity,  office,  trust,  and  "jurisdic- 
tion;" not  from  the  free  voice  of  any  portion  of  his  fel- 
lowT-citizens,  but  from  the  grace  and  favour  of  a  foreign 
tyrant,  called  pope  of  Rome;  and  contrary  to  the  spirit 
of  our  laws,  and  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 
These  things  and  many  like  them,  we  pretermit  for  the 
present,  and  proceed  to  speak  rather  of  the  "jurisdiction" 
itself,  than  of  the  name  and  quality  in  which  it  is  exer- 
cised. 

Perhaps  the  most  palpable  argument  against  the  papa- 
cy, is  that  it  is  a  purely  temporal  empire.  The  seat  of 
its  dominion  is  the  former  capital  of  the  wTorld— called 
the  holy  and  spiritual  city.  There  is  its  senate,  com- 
posed of  members  to  wThom  at  their  creation  it  is  express- 
ly said,  uyou  constitute  the  senate  of  the  city,  you  are  the 
equals  of  kings,  the  cardinals  of  the  whole  world."  (Ce- 
remoniarium,  lib  3.)  Over  all  presides  an  earthly  mon- 
arch, clothed  in  purple,  lodged  in  palaces,  surrounded  by 
guards,  and  followed  by  a  troop  of  dignitaries  and  officers 
of  all  names  and  grades.  The  empire  of  this  monarch, 
is  parcelled  out  into  provinces,  which  are  again  divid- 
ed into  smaller  provinces,  and  these  subdivided  into 
other  districts  called  diocesses;  and  over  all  these  terri- 
torial divisions,  which  embrace  and  cover  the  whole  earth, 


kECHBIBHOP  AND  THE  MAYOR  of    BALTIMORE.      '2!'A 

the  sovereign  pontiff  appoints  governors,  whom  ii<'  calls 
primates,  metropolitans  and  bishops,— and  who  accord- 
ing to  his  lawyers  and  judges  the  exp<  bis  laws 
and  constitutions,  have  a  plenitude  of  power,  far  above 
that  of  princes,  states,  and  governments— given  to  them 
by  God  himself,  for  the  control  of  all  human  affairs.  All 
these  governors  take  the  most  comprehensive  oaths  to 
their  sovereign,  by  which  they  bind  themselves  to  him, 
far  more  explicitly,  than  any  subjects  are  bound  to  any 
other  prince;  thus  creating  a  body  of  sworn  vassals  to 
the  pope  in  the  bosom  of  all  foreign  states.  This  tem- 
poral empire  called  papism,  has  also  its  tribunals,  civil 
and  ecclesiastical— before  which  crimes  are  investigated, 
causes  litigated,  and  judgments  rendered.  It  has  its 
tributes,  taxes  and  contributions,  drawn  under  various 
names,  as  of  right,  from  every  part  of  the  earth.  It  has 
established  a  code  of  civil  law  separate  and  distinct  from 
all  others;  and  has  a  jurisprudence  as  peculiarly  its  own 
as  that  of  any  empire  that  ever  existed.  And  to  com- 
plete the  list,  it  has  its  prisons,  its  punishments,  its  in- 
quisitors and  its  executioners,  in  every  part  of  its  do- 
minions. Thus  fortified,  it  speaks  as  a  mistress  and  a 
sovereign;  it  orders,  it  commands,  it  forbids,  it  decrees, 
it  curses,  it  reigns! 

Now  then  wTe  comprehend  what  the  "archbishop  of 
Baltimore"  means,  when  he  speaks  of  a  "society"  under 
his  '''jurisdiction.  Jurisdiction  says  the  monk  Calepixi, 
in  his  great  Bictionarium  Octolingue,  is  "juris  dicendi 
potestas"— -the  power  of  decreeing  justice;  and  after  cor- 
roborative definitions  from  five  languages  besides  Latin 
— he  establishes  that  given  by  citations  from  Cicero, 
Servius  Sulpitius,  and  Suetonius.  Yes;  we  perfectly 
comprehend  what  the  pope's  governor  for  this  infidel 
province  of  North  America  means  by  his  "jurisdiction  " 
And  by  the  grace  of  God,  we  are  determined  to  make 
that  jurisdiction  regulate  its  pretensions,  so  as  to  accord 
with  the  laws  and  liberties  of  a  free  people. 

It  is  vain  and  absurd,  as  well  as  utterly  beside  the  sub- 
ject for  the  "archbishop  of  Baltimore"  to  claim  the  ex- 
ercise of  this  "jurisdiction"— -as  a  matter  of  conscience; 
for  him  to  invoke  "religious  liberty"  as  the  basis  of  his 


274  R  E  V I E  W  0  P  T 1 1  E  C  ORB  E  S  PO  N  DENC  E  BETWEEN  THE 

ifighl  to  occt  prisons  for  women;  for  him  to  plead  "tine 
rights  of  conscience  and  tin'  supremacy  of  the  laws,"  as 
the  ground  of  a  claim  to  recapture  and  Jock  upas  insane, 
— a  free  woman,  escaped  from  a  nunnery.  "Religious 
liberty"  is  a  simple  thing;  it  means  that  ( Hevia  Neal  had  a 
right  to  (oil!'- out  of  the  convent;  and  that  Mr.  Ec< 
ton  had  no  "jurisdiction" — to  hinder  her.  •■/.' 
conscience"  me  sacred,  when  used  to  regulate  our  own 
faith  and  practice;  they  are  violated,  not  preserved,  when 
the  u archbishop  of  Baltimore97  presumes  to  regulate  and 
control  otherwise  than  by  means  purely  moral  and  scrip- 
tural, the  conscience  of  another.  "  The  supremacy  of  the 
laivs" — does  not  mean  that  the  u archbishop  of  Balti- 
more" by  virtue  of  his  warrant  from  the  pope,  shall  erect 
prisons  for  women;  but  it  means  that  the  lav: :  forbidding 
their  existence  shall  be  enforced  against  them.  It  does 
not  mean,  that  the  pope's  property  in  the  nunnery  in 
Aisquith  street  shall  be  held,  inviolable  and  sacred,  while 
Olevia  Neal's  personal  rights  are  sacrificed  and  trodden 
down  in  that  convent;  but  it  means,  that  the  pope's  pro- 
perty shall  be  obliged  by  the  officers  of  justice  to  be  put 
only  to  lawful  uses,  and  that  Olevia  Neal's  personal  rights 
shall  be  sacredly  respected.  It  means  that  the  nunnery 
and  the  nuns,  shall  both  be  protected  in  what  is  right — 
restrained  in  what  is  wrong;  and  both,  without  any  sort 
of  regard  to  the  pope's  warrant,  or  the  archbishop's  'ju- 
risdiction."— Our  mayor  never  said  a  more  true  or  a  more 
pertinent  thing,  than  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Eccleston,  that 
"the  constitution  and  laws  of  our  state  entitle  to  protec- 
tion from  unlawful  violence,  persons  of  every  description 
without  distinction  as  to  sex,  age,  condition,  religious 
denomination,  or  political  party."  Let  "the  religious 
society"  over  which  the  "archbishop  of  Baltimore"  exer- 
cises "jurisdiction" — remember  this  sacred  truth.  Let 
the  mayor  and  the  public  never  cease  to  bear  in  mind, 
that  it  is  as  illegal  to  imprison  or  to  recapture  a  tree  wo- 
man, without  warrant,  as  it  is  to  pull  down  a  convent; 
and  that  priests  and  nuns,  and  their  myrmidons  in  doing 
the  former  act,  are  as  much  a  mob,  as  any  can  be  in  doing 
the  latter:  and  that  the  mayor  is  as  much  bound  in  de- 
fence of  persona]  rights,  to  call   out  the  police  and  the 


ARCHBISHOP  AND  THE   MAYOB  OJP  BALTIMORE.      276 

military,  if  n  ,  and  to  fire  upon  an  archbishop  and 

his  mob;  as  in  defence  of  rights  in  realtj  to  fire  upon  the 
most  avowed  mobocrat  and  his  mob  The  mayor  lias 
hit  the  nail  upon  the  head.  The  constitution  and  laws} 
do  prated  persons;  and  that  withoiti  th  rd  to 

their  condition  or  religious  denomination.  Our  laws 
know  nothing  about  archbishops  or  popes,  Bui  they 
know  every  thing  about  absolute  freedom  of  person,  to 
every  citizen  of  the  commonwealth.  They  protect  the 
property  of  all;  but  they  know  nothing  of  a  ''■jurisdiction" 
— which  provides  private  prisons  for  free  women. 

We  do  not  consider  it  at  all  material  to  the  case  in  de- 
bate whether  the  nuns  in  Aisquith  street,  and  all  others, 
be  the  purest  or  vilest  of  mankind.  They  "have  chosen 
to  enter  a  religious  community,"  says  "their  ecclesiasii- 
cal  organ."  Very  well.  It  may  justly  be  questioned 
whether  their  kind  of  "community"  is  not  contra  bonas 
mores,  and  therefore  illegal;  and  when  the  occasion  arises 
for  the  making  of  that  question  before  a  jury  of  free  and 
virtuous  men  of  the  nineteenth  centur)  in  this  happy  and 
enlightened  land,  it  may  be  found  that  our  opinion  is  not 
peculiar  on  that  point.  But  we  have  nothing  to  say  in 
that  regard  at  present.  The  better  the  women  are,  and 
the  more  honest  their  calling,  the  more  perfect  is  their 
claim  to  protection  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  natural  and 
civil  rights.  They  "divide  their  time  between  the  prac- 
tices of  prayer  and  self-denial,  and  the  instruction  of 
youth;"  it  is  added.  Very  well  again.  We  have  noth- 
ing to  say  to  that.  We  do  not  see  that  high  walls,  iron 
bars  and  grates,  dungeons  and  so  forth — are  needful  in 
either  of  those  respects;  still  less,  that  the  stated  and  se- 
cret conferences  of  unmarried  priests,  with  these  unmar- 
ried nuns  are  either  safe,  respectable,  or  prudent.  All 
this  is  as  it  may  be.  But  what  has  it  all,  or  any  part  of 
it  to  do,  with  a  question  of  right  under  our  laws  to  con- 
vert these  nuns  into  convicts;  to  withdraw  them  out  of 
the  reach  of  legal  protection — to  erect  prisons  for  their 
safe  custody,  and  to  recapture  them  when  they  escape? — 
Let  our  grand  juries  inspect  these  along  with  all  other 
places  of  legal  confinement — or  let  them  be  suppressed  as 
places  of  illegal  confinement.     Let  the  law  assure  itself, 


276    REVIEW  OF  THE  CORRESl'ONDKXCE  BETWEEN  THE 

by  its  proper  functionaries,  that  they  are  not  prisons;  or 
i  Ise  let  them  be  put  on  the  looting  of  all  other  prisons. 
Now  the  latter  is  manifestly  impossible.  Our  laws  will 
never  provide  a  prison  for  the  pope  of  Rome  to  put  his 
refractory  subjects  in.  Our  laws  will  never  recognize 
any  right  in  the  pope  of  Rome  or  his  governors,  t6  exer- 
cise "jurisdiction"  OVeT  the  persons  of  our  citizens.  It 
is  impossible,  and  contrary  to  the  whole  spirit  and  nature 
of  all  our  institutions.  Then  the  other  alternative  must 
stand.  If  these  be  prisons,  they  are  illegal,  and  ought  to 
be  suppressed;  if  the  archbishop  exercises  "jurisdiction" 
by  virtue  of  a  foreign  warrant,  over  the  persons  of  free 
Americans — he  is  a  wrongdoer,  and  can  be  punished. — 
And  whether  they  be  prisons  or  no,  whether  this  wrong- 
ful "jurisdiction'"  be  exercised  or  no,  are  pure  questions 
of  fact;  in  regard  to  which,  the  proof  is  clear  to  a  moral 
intent,  and  concerning  which,  when  the  proper  case  is 
made,  the  tribunals  of  the  state  will,  no  doubt,  decide 
justly.  Meantime  let  the  functionaries  of  the  law  take 
notice—that  they  are  responsible  at  their  peril  to  know 
what  the  law  is. 

There  is  a  flourish  in  the  letter  of  Mr.  Eccleston,  about 
the  contrast  between  the  Protestant  intolerance  of  the 
present  generation  in  our  commonwealth,  and  the  Papal 
liberality  of  its  reputed  founders---which  must  not  be 
passed  by.  We  repeat  his  words:  "Scenes  but  little  in 
accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  Catholic  pilgrims  who 
first  landed  on  our  shores,  and  offered  the  open  hand  of 
fellowship  to  the  persecuted  of  every  creed  and  clime.  In 
Baltimore  especially  I  was  not  prepared  to  expect  them, 
where  the  very  name  of  our  city  reminds  us  of  the  Ca- 
tholic founder  of  Maryland,  one  of  the  earliest  and  truest 
friends  of  civil  and  religious  liberty." 

George  Calvert,  Baron  Baltimore,  was  like  the  pres- 
ent " archbishop  of  Baltimore,"  an  apostate  from  the  re- 
ligion of  Christ  to  that  of  Rome.  In  the  disordered  state 
of  affairs  in  England  during  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  he  endeavored  to  found  a  Papist  colony  in  New 
Found  land;  in  which  attempt  he  failed.  Charles  I.  king 
of  England,  himself  an  apostate  like  Calvert  and  the  arch- 
bishop— was  greatly  pleased  to  find  Ccecelius  Calvert, 


ARCHBISHOP  AND  THE   MAYOR  OF   BALTIMORE.      277 

the  son  of  («  to  execute  his  father's  projects; 

and  .   in  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign,  the  well 

known  Charter  for  Maryland.     We  will  give  some  extracts 

from  it,  and  from  other  public  and  permanent  arm  to  show 
that  Mr.  Eccleston  is  a  great  civilian  as  well  as  a  great 

ecclesiastic. 

In  that  charter  granted  to  Ccecelius  Calvert  by  Charles 

I.,  the  king  states  in  the  ii.  Section  of  it,  that  the  motive 
actuating  baron  Baltimore,  in  desiring  "to  transport  a  nu- 
merous colony,  to  a  country  hitherto  uncultivated  in  the 
parts  of  America,"  was  ua  laudable  and  pious  zeal  for 
%ding    the  Chris! ;  on,  and  also  the  territories 

of  our  empire;"  and  in  Sec.  iii.  Charles  adds  that  the  mo- 
tive actuating  him  in  granting  the  charter  was  his  desire  to 
encourage,  with  royal  favor,  this  "pious  and  noble  purpose." 
It  is  stated  also  in  the  ii.  Sec.  by  kingly  authority,  that  Cce- 
celius Calvert  was  not  only  "son  and  heir  of  George 
Calvert,"  but  that  he  was  "treacling  in  the  steps  of  his 
father."  What  all  this  means  when  spoken  by  Charles, 
of  the  Calverts,  is  plain  enough. 

Sec.  iv.  vests  in  Calvert  and  his  heirs  and  assigns  "the 
patronages  and  advowsons  of  all  churches  which  shal 
hereafter  happen  to  be  built"  within  the  limits  of  their 
charter:  also  the  "license  and  faculty  of  erecting  and 
founding  churches,  chapels,  &c;  of  causing  them  to  be 
dedicated,  consecrated,  &c;  and  also  all  and  singular 
such  and  as  ample  rights,  jurisdictions,  royalties,  &c,  as 
the  bishop  of  Durham  had  within  his  bishopric  and  county 
palatine. "---"Advowson,  (says  Blackstone,  Com.  ii.  29,) 
is  the  right  of  presentation  to  a  church  or  ecclesiastical 
benefice:  *  *  and  is  synonimous  with  patronage,  patro- 
natus:  and  he  who  has  the  right  of  advowson,  is  called  the 
patron  of  the  church."  So  again  of  the  county  palatine 
of  Durham,  he  says,  Com.  i.  113,  "it  is  so  called  a 
palatio;  because  the  bishop  thereof  had  in  it,  jura  rega- 
lia, as  fully  as  the  king  had  in  his  palace:  regalem  po- 
testatem  in  omnibus,  as  Bracton  expresses  it." 

Sec.  xxii.  provides  that  no  interpretation  of  the  char- 
ter, or  any  word,  clause,  or  sentence  of   it  shall  be  made 
"whereby  God's  holy  and  true  Christian  religion  may  in 
anywise  suffer  by  change,  prejudice,  or  diminution." 
24 


278    REVIEW  OI    THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE 

The  whole  charter  will  be  found  in  vol.  I.  p.  1 1  of 
Maxy's  edition  of  the  laws  "t  Maryland,  printed  in  1811. 
We  aver  that  there  is  nol  one  word  in  this  charter  which 
even  squints  towards  a  free  toleration,  much  lc.->s  religi- 
ous liberty;  that  the  scope  of  it  in  general,  and  many  par- 
ticular provisions  are  altogeth<  r  irreconcileable  with  the 
liberties  erven  of  the  tolerated  churches,  and  insuperable 
barriers  to  the  general  spread  of  the  gospel,  except  by 
means  of  a  national  church, — which  every  part  of  the 
charter  contemplates;  and  finally,  that  considering  the 
times  in  which  it  was  issued,  the  source  from  which  it 
emanated,  the  person  to  whom  it  was  given,  and  the  rea- 
sons assigned  for  granting  it — its  religious  aspect  looks, 
towards  the  establishment,  if  not  the  exclusive  existence 
of  papism  in  Maryland.  If  any  doubt  the  fairness  of 
this  representation,  we  beg  them  to  examine  Bczmarts 
History  of  Maryland,  from  its  first  settlement,  till  the 
restoration  in  1660;  a  work  lately  published  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  state:  and  there  they  will  find,  not  one  word 
to  justify,  but  numerous  facts  to  disprove  Mr.  Eccleston's 
assertions. 

The  intervening  period,  of  rather  more  than  a  century, 
from  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  to  the  American  rev- 
olution, we  pass  by  at  present;  because  the  very  act  which 
made  Maryland  a  free  and  independent  state,  proves  in- 
contestibly  what  principles  still  prevailed  in  regard  to  re- 
ligious liberty.     We  come  to  the  ' 'Declaration  of  Rights." 

This  instrument  contains  statements  which  "the  arch- 
bishop of  Baltimore"  would  do  well  to  examine,  both  as 
they  establish  the  absurdity  of  his  principles,  the  illegali- 
ty of  his  pretensions,  and  the  erroneousness  of  his  asser- 
tions. We  quote  several.  It  is  declared  in  article  33, 
that  protection  of  person  and  estate,  in  regard  to  religi- 
ous faith,  ceases  in  all  cases  where  "under  colour  of  reli- 
gion, any  man  shall  disturb  the  good  order,  peace,  and 
safety  of  the  state,   on  shall  infringe  the  laws  of 

MORALITY,  OR  INJURE  OTHERS  IN  THEIR  NATURAL,  CIVIL, 

or  religious  rights.'3  Again,  "all  persons  professing 
the  Christian  reUgion,  are  equally  entitled  to  protection 
in  their  religious  liberty."  Again*,  "The  legislature  may, 
in  their  discretion,  lay  a  general   and  equal  tax  for  the 


ARCHBISHOP  AND  THE   HA  YOB  OF  BALTIMORE.       279 

support  of  the  Christian  religion."  Again,  article  35, — 
■  \  declaratioo  of  a  belief  ra  Ihe  Christian  religion'1  is 
instituted  as  a  n->:  of  office,  if  there  be  lrus(  or  pi 
connected  with  it.  See  Laws  of  Maryland,  vol.  3,  pp.  1  1. 
E6.  It  is  believed  that  all  these  provisions  except  that 
relating  to  a  tax  for  the  support  of  religion  are  still  iu  full 
force.  This  " Declaration  of  Rights"  was  adopted  i  i 
1776. 

We  now  pass  over  nearly  fifty  years  more,  and  desire 
Mr.  Eccleston  to  turn  to  Chap.  205,  of  the  ".Laws  made 
and  passed  by  the  General  assembly  of  the  State  of  Mary- 
land"  at  the  session  of  1824.  He  will  there  find  an  act 
entitled  uAn  Act  for  the  relief  of  the  Jews  in  Maryland" 
— passed  no  longer  ago  than  on  the  25th  of  February, 
1825.  And  if  he  will  then  ask  the  first  Jew  he  meets  (if 
lie  can  s  :■  overcome  the  astonishing  and  enduring  ha- 
tred  of  papists  to  Jews,  as  to  hold  converse  with  a  son  of 
Abraham) — he  will  tell  him,  that  for  nearly  two  hundred 
years  after  the  granting  of  our  state  charter  to  that  "ear- 
liest and  truest  friend  of  civil  and  religious  liberty," 
Coecelius  Calvert;  a  Jew  in  Maryland  could  hold  no  office 
either  of  profit  or  trust,  unless  he  could  do  as  Judge  Wil- 
liam Gaston  of  N.  C.  did.  So  that  here  are  two  pieces 
of  casuistry  for  the  archbishop  to  explain  together:  name- 
ly, the  veracity  of  a  papal  judge,  when  he  swears  he  be- 
lieves and  will  support  the  Protestant  religion;  and  that 
of  a  learned  prelate,  who  asserts  the  unqualified  and  gen- 
erous reception  of  "the  persecuted  of  every  clime  and 
creed" — by  the  sect  originally  predominant  in  Maryland, 
and  which  from  their  origin,  and  as  long  as  they  had  the 
power — acted  on  diametrically  opposite  principles. 

The  flourish  about  Baltimore  is  ridiculous.  Mr.  Ec- 
cleston is  a  native  of  Maryland,  and  ought  to  know  more 
about  the  history  of  his  own  state.  Baltimore  was  a  Pro- 
testant city  from  its  origin,  (see  Griffith's  work  on 
Baltimore;)  and  we  venture  to  predict  will  continue  so 
to  the  end. 

But  how  strange  does  it  sound  to  hear  a  high  dignita- 
ry of  the  papal  church,  commend  liberty  either  civil  or 
religious — and  speak  in  praise  of  liberality  to  the  op- 
pressed, the  persecuted  and  the  unfortunate!     For  more 


REVIEW  OF  THE  CORRESPONDENCE,  &1C. 

than  thirteen  centuri  \h         \h  has 

witnessed  the  ci  ad  tyranny  of  this 

tcniblc   superstition.     It  has  persecution  to  a 

system;  cruelty  to  an  exact   science.      Its  very   faith  is 
based  on  universal  intolerance,  and  its  < 
dominion  of  all  other  churches.     It  has  more  hu- 

rl blood  to  be  shed,  than  all  other  fak  \i  to- 

ther;  and  has  gone  farther  and  done  more,  to  s 
liberty  of  conscience,  of  thought,  of  speech  and  of  action, 
than  any   other  Organized   succession  that  ever  existed 
amongst  men.      In  what  papal  country,   at  the  moil 
we  write,  are  any  admitted  to  the  same  rights  as  pay 
Is  it  in  Mexico, — in  the  Catholic  West  India  Islands,  in 
South  America— in   Spain— in  Italy— -any  where?     In 
Rome  the  holy  seat,  of  this  liberal  Catholicism,    \.!  at  i^ 
the  nature  of  the  liberty,  civil  or  religious,   enjoyed  by 
man? 

And  above  all  men,  that  a  prelate  who  holds  his  office 
by  the  mere  grace  and  favour  of  a  tyrant  who  has  expli- 
citly denounced  every  principle  sacred  to  us  as  Ameri- 
cans and  as  freemen;  that  such  a  man  should  prate  to  us 
about  our  intolerance  and  illiberality,  is  surely  most  edi- 
fying. This  Gregory  xvi.,  now  reigning  at  Rome,  has 
publicly  and  officially,  again  and  again,  pronounced  his 
abhorrence  of  all  the  principles  upon  which  our repubi 
institutions  rest,  and  for  the  purchase  and  security  of 
which  the  blood  of  our  fathers  was  poured  out  like  water. 
He  has  over  and  over  declared  on  his  priestly  and  prince- 
ly faith,  that  the  universal  church  has  responded  in  ac- 
cents of  cordial  and  unanimous  applause  of  his  atrocious 
proclamations  against  the  rights,  the  hopes,  and  the  con- 
solations of  human  nature.  And  now  in  the  midst  of  all 
this  array  of  damning  proof,  this  Gregory  selects  out  of 
all  the  tens  of  thousands  of  his  followers  in  this  wide  re- 
public, one  Samuel  Eccleston,  as  the  person  most  lit  in  his 
judgment,  to  represent  his  opinions,  to  advance  his  pre- 
tensions, and  to  exercise  "jurisdiction"  in  his  behalf,  in 
free  America:  and  this  Samuel  Eccleston  does  not  blush 
t  o  acknowled  mark  thus  set  upon  him,  and  to  do 

the  service  expected  at  his  hands!     Samuel  Eccleston  by 
the  grace  of  God,  freeman  and  citizen,  has  passed  ai 


THE  TAX  BOOK  OF  THE  ROMAN  CHANCERY. 

and  Samuel  Eccleston  by  the  favour  of  the  apostolic  See, 
"archbishop  of  Baltimore"  tak< 

it  liberty  '    To  wh  it  an  abject  and  pitiable  s 
be  reduced  by  his  vanity  and  ambition! 

Let  no  man  suppose  that  we  lay  too  much    s1  i 

these  transactions;  or  that  the  cause  is  not    adequate 
the  excitement  it  has  produced.     John  Hampden  refuse  1 

to  submit  to  a  wrong  which  drew  after  it  the  violation  of 
the  liberties  of  Englishmen- -though  only  a  few  shillings 

were  directly  at  stake;  and  the  result  was  the  fiercest 
convulsions  that  ever  England  saw.  Our  ancestors  re- 
fused  to  submit  to  the  most  trifling  taxes  and  impos 
which  the  great  bulk  of  them  might  never  have  paid,  be- 
cause the  national  freedom  and  independence  were  in- 
volved in  the  same  principles;  and  the  end  was,  every 
thing  that  has  grown  and  shall  grow  out  of  the  doings  of 
'76.  The  smallest  and  the  greatest  affairs  are  united  in 
the  providence  of  God.  And  if  the  fate  of  a  poor  Car- 
melite shall  be  the  occasion  of  arousing  this  community 
to  a  perception  of  the  dangerous  principles,  the  illegal 
proceedings,  and  the  intolerable  pretensions  of  the  follow- 
ers and  officers  of  the  pope  settled  amongst  us;  it  may 
save  us  by  a  timely  and  firm  application  of  the  principles 
of  justice  and  liberty-— from  future  trials  and  calamities, 
the  end  of  which  no  man  can  foresee. 

In  the  deep  conviction  of  this  truth  are  these  dangerous 
labors  performed.  And  whether  our  country  will  hear  or 
will  forbear-— we  trust  in  God  for  support  and  reward. 


NUMBER    XXIX. 

THE  TAX  BOOK  OF  THE  ROMAN  CHANCERY/ 

Mr.  England  who  generally  signs  himself  (f)  Dagger, 
John,  Bishop,  has  taken  upon  himself  the  task  of  making 
the  world  believe  that  the  court  of  Rome  never  had  a  re- 
24* 


282         THE  TAX  BOOK  OF  THE  ROMAN  CttANCE&l  . 

gular  and  fixed  tiiriff  at  which  dispensations  and  abso- 
lutions as  well  as  indulgences  were  granted;  and  es- 
pecially that  the  volume  SO  Well  known  to  the  learned  for 
several  Centuries  past,  and  so  often  reprinted  in  various 
parts  of  Europe,  as  the  Tax  Book  of  the  Roman  Chan- 
ren/, — is  neither  genuine  nor  authentic;  hut  is  in  great 
part  forged,  and  as  a  whole  spurious. 

The  Rev,  Richard  Fuller  of  South  Carolina,  with 
whom  Dagger ',  John,  Bishop,  has  commenced  this  con- 
troversy; has  conducted  it  with  such  ability  and  force 
that  it  would  be  useless  and  indelicate  for  us  to  meddle 
in  the  direct  issue.  And  the  able  editor  of  the  Charles- 
ton Observer  has  so  clearly  shown  the  direct  probability 
of  the  genuineness  of  the  book  (still  leaving  to  Mr.  Fuller 
the  positive  proof)— from  the  general  scope  of  popery; 
that  nothing  need  be  said   on  that  part  of  the  argument. 

On  looking  a  little  into  the  papers  of  Dagger ,  John, 
Bishop,  it  struck  us,  that  there  was  a  crumb  or  two  not 
likely  to  be  picked  up,  by  our  stronger  brethren;  and 
which,  although  our  limited  reading  in  the  papal  contro- 
very  might  make  them  seem  unduly  important  in  our 
eyes — yet  on  the  whole,  might  amuse  if  not  instruct  our 
readers.  We  propose  to  set  down  a  few  of  them — in  the 
way  merely  of  indirect  evidence  in  the  case  now  (1839) 
under  public  discussion  in  the  south. 

We  find  in  the  Index  Librorum  Prohibitorum;  Roma^ 
1819,  under  the  name  Banck,  on  p.  24,  this  entry:  "Taza 
S.  cancellarice  Romance^  in  lucem  emissa,  et  notis  illustra- 
ta.  Deer.  16,  Jtmu  1654,  et  13,  Nov.  1662."  The  very 
next  entry  still  under  the  name  of  Banck,  is  as  follows: 
c<  Tariffa  delle  Spedizioni  della  Dataria,  Deer.  13,  Norcmb. 
1662."  These  entries  settle,  past  the  power  of  logic 
to  confute,  the  existence  of  these  books  at  and  before  the 
date  of  the  entries.  Now  we  ask,  Dagger.,  John,  Bishop 
— to  be  so  good  as  to  show  any  attempt  made  by  any 
reputable  man  of  any  country  or  sect,  before  himself;  to 
prove  the  first  of  these  prohibited  books  a  forgery.  The 
rule  of  law  and  common  sense  is,  that  a  fact  proves  it- 
self, after  a  certain  period  of  unquestioned  existence. 
But  the  rule  now  contended  for  by  this  learned  prelate  is, 
that  at  the  end  of  above  three  hundred  years  from  the 


YHE  TAX  BOOK  OF  THE   ROMAN   CHANCERY,  283 

first  printing  of  a  certain  book;  and  after  it  lias  been  in 
the  Index  for  a  hundred   and   eighty-five  years — during 

all  which  time,  all  the  learned  in  all  countries  have  re- 
ceived it  as  genuine; — the  question  shall  still  depend  on 
our  ability  to  get  the  original  manuscript — and  a  living 
witness  or  two,  to  prove  the  fact  of  writing! 

The  fact  of  its  being  in  the  Index,  retorts  I).  J.  B. 
proves  that  it  was  from  the  beginning  rejected  and  ab- 
horred, as  false  and  spurious,  by  the  papal  church.  li 
that  be  a  good  rule — it  shows  that  the  Bible  is  rejected 
and  abhorred  as  false  and  spurious  by  the  church  of 
Rome;  for  not  only  arc  very  many  editions  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  in  the  Index;  but  the  iii.  rule  of  the  In- 
dex is  levelled  in  great  part  directly  against  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  rinding  a  book  in  the  Index,  is  proof  only 
that  Rome  does  not  wish  it  read;  and  the  not  putting  the 
Tax  Book  in  it,  till  the  light  of  the  reformation  had  made  it 
too  hideous  to  be  allowed  to  walk  openly  abroad,  is 
strong  indirect  proof  that  the  book  w^as  genuine.  A 
book  of  Rome  circulates  unquestioned  for  a  hundred  and 
eighty  five  years;  then  it  is  prohibited,  without  any  charge 
however  against  its  genuineness  for  185  years  more;  then 
it  is  called  a  forgery,  in  partibus  inftdeliam.  This  is 
good  proof  of  the  progress  of  light,  but  none  at  all 
against  the  authenticity  of  the  book. 

This  matter  of  the  Index,  is  curious  enough.  The 
Trent  Index  was  compiled  in  1564.  Before  that  date, 
twenty-seven  known  editions,  of  the  Taxoz  had  been  pub- 
lished; as  the  reader  will  see  by  consulting  in  succession 
Bayle,  under  the  articles  Banck,  Pinet,  and  Tuppius; 
then  Prosper  Marchand's  Dictionaire  Historique,  un- 
der the  word  Taxce;  and  then  the  Annates  Typographic  ce 
of  Panzer.  And  yet  not  the  least  notice  was  taken  in 
that  Index  of  a  single  one  of  these  editions!  The  first 
notice  we  can  find  that  was  taken  of  any  of  them  in 
the  Indexes,  was  in  1570,  just  a  century  after  the  publi- 
cation of  the  first  known  edition;  and  then  only  in  an  ap- 
pendix to  the  Roman  Index,  published  by  authority  of 
the  king  of  Spain.  The  prohibition  there  is  thus,  Praxis 
et  Taxa  officincB  penitentiaries  Papce  (p.  76.)  The  next 
Index  published  by  Papal  authority  seems  to  have  been 


284  THE   TAX   BOOK   OF  THE   ROMAN   CHANCERY. 

by  I  ni.  Rome  1596;  in  which  we  have,  added  to 

the  foregoing  prohibition,  the  pregnant  words, — abfuere- 
ticis  depravata.     In  the  edition  of  Pins  VI.,   178G    the 
prohibition  is  again  significantly  changed  thus,- 
kccr  in  the  editioi 

Pius  VII.  1806;  and  in  another  of  the  sam£  pope  pub- 
lished in    L819.     These  facts  are  surely  irreconcileable 
with  the  idea  of  any  rery  great  zeal  on  the  part  of 
pope  to  clear  his  skirts  of  this  hook;  or  any  vcrv  recent 
forgery  of  it,  by  his  enemies. 

On  the  133  page  of  Pius  VII.  Index  of  1819  is  this 
entry;  " Gravamina  centum  nationis  Germanicce. — hid. 
IWrf."  The  entry  immediately  preceding  is  "Gratius 
Orthunus,  Fasciculus  Re  rum  fyc. — Ind.  Trid;"  in  which 
book  printed  at  Cologne  1535  and  again  at  London  1690, 
the  aforesaid  Centum  Gravamina,  are  also  found.  In 
the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Du  Pm,  Doctor  of  Sorbonne 
&c,  London  edition  of  1703,  Vol.  on  the  XVI.  century, 
Book  II.  ch.  XV.— pp.  78—82;  there  is  an  account  of 
the  Diet  of  Nuremburg,  and  of  these  Centum  Gravt 
?m,  compiled  and  published  by  it,  in  1522.  Du  Pin,  re- 
duces the  articles  composing  these  Gravamina  into  heads; 
and  sets  forth  in  substance  many  of  them.  Under  the 
first  head,  the  Diet  complained  that  there  were  such  mul- 
titudes of  papal  constitutions  about  things  neither  com- 
manded nor  forbidden  by  God;  all  which  were  dispem 
with  for  money!  The  second  head,  complained  that,  for 
money,  all  sorts  of  indulgences  were  granted;  and  thus  a 
door  set  open  for  all  sorts  of  crimes!  And  so  on,  down 
to  the  fifteenth  head,  in  order.  Du  Pin  was  a  good  pa- 
pist; and  so  were  most  of  the  members  of  the  Diet  of 
Nuremburg,  which  sat  only  five  years  after  Luther  had 
first  broken  ground,  against  the  corruptions  of  Rome,  by 
publishing  his  Theses  against  Indulgences.  But  if  "my 
lord  England" — wishes  more  indubitable  papal  authori- 
ty, he  will  find  it,  by  turningto  Annates  Ecclesiastici  &c, 
Tom.  XX.,  Raynaldus'*  continuation  of  Baronius\  Roma 
1663;  undei  the  year  1523,  2.  5.  Num.  30 — 18;  where  he 
will  find  these  terrible  Gravamina,  digested  into  seventy 
seven  heads,  by  the  authorised  historian  of  his  church. — 
Now  all  that  is  wanting  to  make  a  multitude  of  these 


i  Hi:  TAX  BOOK  OF  THE  ROMAN  (HANCKRV.    2S5 

hur  vances  ailed ged  by  the  Diet  of  the  German 

empire  before  the  establishment  of  the  reformation)  almost 
literal  citations  from  thai  the  prices  are  not 

annexed. 

But  Mr.  Dagger,  John,  Bishop,  insinuates  that  nobody 
in  Europe  uow-a-days  pretends  that  the  hook  is  genuine; 

at  least  nobody  who  is  either  scholar-like,  or  Christian- 
like, or  gentleman-like.  Let  us  see*  At  the  end  of  the 
edition  of  the  Index,  published  in  1819,  is  an  Appendix 

containing  eleven  separate  additions,  made  by  successive 
decrees  to  the  list  of  prohibited  books.  The  last  of  these 
dec:  -Oth  September,   1827.      Con- 

tained in  the  first  of  these,  and  on  p.  350  of  the  book — is 
this  entry,  "  Taxes  des  parties  casuelles  tie  la  Boutique  du 
Pape  re!  r  Jean  xxii.  etpublies  par  Leon  x.  Vnh- 

n  de  S.  Jlcheut.  Deer.  27,  November 
1820." — If  Mr.  D.  J.  B.  wishes  any  additional  confirma- 
tion of  the  truth  of  his  suggestion,  he  will  find  it,  if  he 
will  consult  De  Potter's  work  entitled  L*  Esprit  de  V  Eg- 
Use,  torn  vii.  pp.  22 — 27,  and  tomix.  pp.  151 — 154.  De 
Potter  still  lives;  he  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Belgian 
revolution;  and  his  work  was  printed  in  Paris  in  1821. — 
In  the  place  last  cited  he  has  four  pages  of  remarks  on  and 
quotations  from  the  General  Tariffs  for  sin,  in  the  papal 
church.  His  first  authority  cited  is  Wolfgag,  MuscuL 
loc.  commiin,  Sacr.  Theolog.  pp.  215 — 225.  He  then  cites 
the  "Time  Cancellarice  $fc."  which  he  says  "was  first 
printed  at  Rome  in  1514,  ( Panzer  proves  fourteen  edi- 
tions before  this,)  and  afterwards  at  Cologne  in  1515  and 
1523,  at  Paris  in  1520, — at  Venice  in  the  Oceanus  Juris, 
vol.  6.  in  1523,  and  again  in  vol.  15,  in  1584.  Laurent 
Banck  consulted  all  these  editions,  and  others  besides, — 
to  publish  that  which  he  gave  with  notes  at  Franeker  in 
1651.  I  have  followed  a  modern  edition  (Juxta  exem- 
plar Romce  1541;  Sylvce  Duels  1706)  collated  and  certi- 
fied to  conform  to  the  editions  of  Rome  and  Paris,  by  a 
commission  of  the  municipal  officers  of  Bois-le-Duc." — ■ 
These  are  the  words  of  a  Philosopher  of  the  xix.  centu- 
ry!— We  suppose  the  whole  congregation  of  the  Lidexy 
backed  by  a  first  rate  modern  philosopher — may  be  con- 
sidered equal,  in  the  assertion  of  a  mere  matter  of  fact 


286     THE  TAX  BOOK  OF  THE  ROMAN  CHANCERY. 

(viz:  whether  the  Tax  Book  is  or  not,  of  late  years,  com- 
monly allowed  to  be  a  forgery?) — to  the  denial  of  one 
bishop  in  part 'thus.  We  confess  we  are  not  positive;  for 
the  question  has  a  squint  of  literature;  and  we  know  the 
Bishop's  rare  attainments.  Wehave  heard  him  say  fzic 
for  Isaac,  and  Izreel  for  Israel — and  much  of  the  same 
kind;standing  with  dignity  august  before  admiring  crowds 
—  and  hugging  his  abdomen  with  both  his  arms,  to  sup- 
port his  great  attainments!     Therefore  we  doubt 

Now  let  us  leave  history,  and  try  a  little  logic.  If  we 
rightly  comprehend  the  pleadings  of  Dagger ,  John, 
Bishop — he  does  not  say  all  the  book  is  forged,  out  and 
out;  but  only  that  in  general,  it  is  a  forged  book.  Upon 
this  we  may  remark,  that  whenever  he  will  condescend  to 
point  out  the  forged  parts,  or  any  of  them — we  will  take 
upon  ourselves  the  task  of  showing,  that  there  is  precise- 
ly as  much  reason  to  believe  the  part  declared  a  forgery  to 
be  genuine — as  any  other  part  of  the  volume.  General 
charges  amount  to  nothing.  Let  Mr.  D.  J.  B.  either  say 
that  the  whole  is  a  forgery,  out  and  out;  or  else  let  him 
say  specifically  what  parts  of  it  are  forged.  To  do  the 
former  surpasses  even  his  assurance;  or  if  it  does  not — 
the  fact  of  the  existence  and  publication  of  a  Tax  Book 
of  the  Pope's  Chancery,  is  as  fully  established,  as  any 
fact  about  any  profane  book  ever  published.  To  do  the 
latter,  subjects  him  to  the  ordeal,  already  stated.  So  that 
his  dealing  in  general  charges,  is  strong  indirect  evidence 
against  both  his  cause  and  his  candour. 

But  we  remark  still  further,  that  if  Mr.  D.  J.  B.  will 
point  out  and  deny  any  leading  principle  in  any  addition 
of  the  Tux  Book  refered  to  by  us,  as  genuine,  in  this  or 
any  other  article;  then  we  will  undertake  to  prove  aliunde 
— that  is  from  other  indubitable  papal  authorities,  that 
the  principle  of  the  Tax  Book  so  controverted,  is  a  good 
papal  principle!  So  that  if  the  book  be  forged — the  for- 
gery can  at  the  most  amount  to  no  more  than  a  true  and 
faithful  collection  into  one  volume,  of  matter  scattered 
over  hundreds.  Every  candid  reader  will  see  in  this  fact 
— the  strongest  possible  indirect  evidence  of  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  book.  If  a  book  contains  the  most  extraor- 
dinary and  revolting  principles,  and  asserts  on  its  fact 


THE  TAX  BOOK  OF  THE   ROAMN  CIIANt'LRV.  287 

that  it  comes  from  Koine;  B  hare  denial,  three  hundred 
years  too  late,  by  a  Cork  priest  made  mlo  a  bishop  m  par- 
tlbus  infideliwntiy  thai  there  is  a  right  useo  ime 

Rome — is  just  nothing,  if  Rome  be  in  all  the  principles 

ith. 
To  go  from  logic  to  law;  if  Dagger,  John,  Bishop  will 

turn  to  the  great  Dictionire  Histarique  of  the  priest 
Moreri  (mark  that,  the  priest Moreri)  Vol.  hi.  pp.  150 
— 151,  of  the  folio  edition  of  1740,  under  the  article  Droit 
Cwxonique ;  he  will  find  an  exposition  of  the  origin  and 
composition  of  the  Canon  Law.  Under  the  last  period 
of  that  law,  ihc  pritst  Moreri  records  as  expressly  form- 
ing part  of  the  "Corps  du  Droit"  uThe  Rules  of  the 
ilposiolic  Chancery  made  since  John  xxii.  which  are  in 
number  about  71."  In  Vol.  ii.  of  his  Dictionary,  under 
the  title  Banck,  he  says  that  he  (Banck)  published  the 
Taxa  Cancellaria  Romana,  in  1651,  and  then  adds:  "This 
book  which  had  already  been  printed  at  Rome  in  1514, 
had  afterwards  been  reprinted  at  several  places,  as  at 
Paris,  Cologne,  Boisleduc,  Franeker  and  other  places. — 
One  may  there  see  what  penalty  they  must  pay  for  the  most 
enormous  crimes  and  for  the  most  infamous  sins— as  well 
on  the  part  of  Ecclesiastics  as  laics."  The  Titles  in  the 
Tax  Book  are  70;  the  number  of  Rules  is  stated  by  Mo- 
reri, at  uabout  71."  We  do  not  pretend  that  the  Titles 
of  the  Tax  Book,  and  the  Rules  of  the  Chancery  are  the 
same;  but  the  odd  fact  lies  here-— that  there  should  be  just 
as  many  titles  of  provision  for  pardon  by  the  Chancery, 
as  there  are  Rules  in  the  Chancery— and  yet  the  latter  be 
genuine  and  the  former  forged. 

On  examining  the  Canon  Law,  we  find  a  great  deal 
about  these  Rules  of  the  Roman  Chancery.  In  Vol.  III. 
of  the  Corpus  Juris  Canonici,  pages  36 — 7,  and  again 
pages  74 — 90;  and  again  page  200,  making  in  all  about 
twenty  folio  pages,  are  occupied  in  treating  of  only  a  por- 
tion of  these  rules.  In  this  body  of  matter  the  student 
will  find  much  direct  proof  of  a  minute  kind,  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  Tax  Book,  or  rules  for  absolution  un- 
der the  rules  of  the  chancery  itself.  The  truth  is,  the 
very  existence  of  these  Rules  of  the  Chancery,  is  strong 
presumptive   proof  of  the  existence  of  a   corresponding 


28S        Tin:  tax  book  or  the  Roman  chancery. 

system  of  payment  for  absolution;  since  the  pope  claim? 
;  ude  of  power  and  the  right  to  grant  Indulgences — 

a  claim  and  I  te   council  of  Trent  in  the 

xw .  de  Induh  id  since  this 

im  (n\(>vs  every  other  pari  of  the  discipline  of  the 
church,  and  practically  lias  been  used  I  ivery 

thing,  aad  to  absolve  from  every  thing,  But 

on  examining  the  mi  sely  we  find    (Cot 

Vol.  iii.  /).  74.  Tractates  de  Beneficiis  Ecct  Ti- 

ts viii.  Observed ionis  in  Romance  CancellaruB  Regvlas) 
that  the  division  of  the  Canon  Law  touching  the  Rules 
is  exactly  answerable  to  the  divisions  of  the  Tax  Book 
touching  the  subjects  of  dispensation;  as  any  student  will 
immediately  see,  on  comparing  the  two!  So  that  the  facts 
compel  us  to  believe  that  the  whole  are  of  the  same 
origin — and  equally  authentic:  that  is,  that  the  Tax  Book 
is  genuine  if  the  Canon  Law  is;  which  is  a  pretty  tough 
conclusion  for  the  cause  of   Dagger,  John,  Bishop. 

It  is  perfectly  notorious  to  all  the  world  that  Rome 
claims  a  plenitude  of  power  as  residing  in  her  temporal 
head — who,  as  she  says  is  the  vicar  of  Christ.  In  par- 
ticular, she  claims  to  possess  the  power  of  absolving  from 
sin  in  general,  or  from  any  special  sin;  and  to  grant  what 
she  calls  Indulgences,  upon  terms  stated  by  herself.  What 
an  Indulgence  actually  is,  is  a  recondite  affair  in  the 
church  of  Rome;  and  any  person  may  safely  deny 
any  statement  that  can  be  made  about  it,  to  be  the  true 
doctrine;  since  there  are  abundance  of  contradictory  true 
doctrines  on  the  subject.  How  variously  this  matter 
was  understood  at  the  era  of  the  reformation,  by  various 
classes  of  Papists,  is  manifest  from  the  ninety-live  pro- 
positions of  Luther,  published  at  Wittemberg  in  1517) 
while  he  was,  as  he  afterwards  confessed  himself,  not 
only  "a  most  blinded  priest"  but  also  ua  most  mad  monk;" 
as  contrasted  with  the  thesis  of  John  Tezel^  in  answer  to 
Luther,  published  the  same  year  at  Frankford.  It  is  how- 
ever undeniable  thai  as  early  as  the  year  1300  Boniface 
VIII.  in  his  Bull  instituting  the  first  jubilee,  grants  "not 
only  a  full  and  abundant,  but  the  fullest  pardon  of  all 
sins" — to  certain  classes  of  persons  therein  named;  and 
that  Clement   VI.,  only  half  a  century  later,  sets  forth  in 


THE  TAX  BOOK  OF  THE   ROMAN  CHANCERY. 

precise  terms  the  grounds  on  which  the  church  obtained, 
held  and  might  use  this  infinite  power  of  pardon  and  in- 
dulgence. We  make  these  statements  on  the  authority 
of  the  Corpus  Juris  Ckmojvici)  Extravag*   Commtm,  lib. 

v.  tit  i.v.  cupp.  1  ct  2.  Now  suppose  that  the  pardon  was 
valid  only  on  the  performance  of  the  prescribed  penance; 
still  it  rests  with  the  church  to  prescribe  that  penance; 
and  to  apply  it;£so  we  have  the  ancient  penitential  can- 
ons; and  all  this  came  naturally  under  the  power  of  the 
keys,  as  claimed  by  Rome.  Indulgence  goes  a  step  farther: 
it  comes  to  interfere  with  the  penance, — to  lessen  it, — to 
commute  it,  to  suffer  it  vicariously,  or  to  remit  it  wholly 
or  in  part;  and  that  all  this  was  done  by  the  church,  is 
perfectly  clear  from  the  same  penitential  canons.  That 
money  was  demanded  and  paid,  and  that  at  fixed  rates, 
as  part  of  the  consideration  of  the  indulgence;  nay  as 
part  of  the  original  penance,  and  also  as  part  of  the  com- 
mution  of  it  by  way  of  indulgence;  and  that  from  an 
early  period  of  the  apostacy,  is  also  certain  enough.  The 
Pcenitentiale  of  Theodore,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  in 
the  seventh  century;  that  of  the  venerable  Bede  his  suc- 
cessor, (denominated  De  Remediis.  Peccatorum;)  and 
that  of  Ecgbert,  archbishop  of  York  in  the  eighth  century, 
are  all  extant ;  and  in  all  of  them,  as  well  as  in  the  Pent- 
tentiale  Romanum,  and  even  in  the  canons  subjoined  to  the 
Decretals  of  Gratian,  rules  are  given  for  a  pecuniary  com- 
pensation for  declined  penances.  Now  what  is  this,  but 
the  very  sum  and  substance,  the  very  bone  and  marrow, 
of  the  Taxce?  If  there  be  a  mode  and  a  power,  to  es- 
cape penance  by  money,  as  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the 
consideration;  what  is  so  natural,  so  inevitable,  as  that 
the  rules  of  this  commutation,  should  be  digested,  ap- 
proved and  published.  This  is  precisely  the  very  thing 
that  has  been  done;  and  from  1471  'till  1822,  not  less 
than  fifty  editions  of  this  book  of  the  pope's  fees  of  office 
— have  been  published.  The  force  of  the  inference  from 
these  facts,  as  to  the  genuineness  or  spuriousness  of  the 
Taxes,  we  leave  to  the  consideration  of  Dagger,  John, 
Bishop, 

We  have  now  shown  that  the  facts,  the  logic  and  the 
law  of  the  case,  are  all  clear  against  our  bishop  in  par- 
25 


£00  THE  TAX  BOOS  OF   nil-:  ROMAS  CSAKCE&1 

//7>//\.  Lei  us  next  try  the  chronology  of  it;  still  I 
to  our  narrow  ground  of  indirect  proof.  I).  J.  J!,  i  not 
vci\  mealy-mouthed  in  his  mode  of  talking  about  Pro- 
testani  witnesses;  though  by  his  rule  pf  testimony  all 
human  proof  is  at  an  end — as  no  body  but  an  interested 
witness  will  serve  his  turn — and  no  I 
mil  such  testimony.     But  wo  will  hold  to  th<  int. 

oi"  t '  i  ry  of  the    Tax    Book — and  just  now,  to  the 

naked  argument  from  chronology.  Jintoine  du  J 
the  first  groat  forger  of  this  puie  book,  dates  his  epistle 
dedicatory  to  his  famous  edition  of  it,  on  the  26th  of 
March,  1564,  at  Lyons. — (Bayle,  Article  Pinet.  note  B.J 
Here  is  one  fixed  point.  All  the  editions  before  this 
were  published  by  good  Catholics,  and  usually  with  pri- 
vilege either  of  pope  or  king.  Laurent  Banck,  the  pub- 
lisher of  the  other  great  forged  edition  of  the  Tax  Booky 
died  Oct.  13,  1662:  having  published  the  book  atFrane- 
ker  in  1651,  (  Bayle  7  Article  Banck,  note  B.J;  nearlj 
a  century  after  Pinet.  Now  Thuanus,  in  his  Uistoire 
Universelle,  torn.  iii.  p.  460 — 3,  gives  us  a  terrible  sum- 
mary of  the  state  of  the  Papacy,  cited  from  Claude 
aVEspence,  under  the  year  1663,  a  year  before  the  issuing 
of  PineVs,  and  ninety-nine  years  before  BanclJs  edition 
of  the  Taxce.  He  was  the  intimate  companion  of  the 
cardinal  of  Lorraine,  and  was  with  him  both  at  the  fa- 
mous colloquy  of  Poissy,  and  at  Trent.  Pleading  for 
the  reform  of  the  church,  the  pope,  he  says,  ushould 
commence  it  by  abolishing  the  disgraceful  imposts  which 
are  levied  from  benefices  and  suppress  the  sordid  traffic  of 
the  Datery  and  the  Chancery,  where  every  merchandize 
is  set  to  auction"  <§rc.  $*c.  This  same  learned  and  candid 
prelate  in  a  formal  list  of  the  means  and  instruments,  by 
which  Rome  indulged  her  avarice,  actually  sols  down  the 
very  book,  in  dispute-— tc  Taxcv  Cancel!' 
---denouncing  it,  as  most  infamous  in  itself,  most  exten- 
sively circulated,  and  virtually  by  the  authority  of  Rome. 
(See  Iiis  Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  Titus,  chapter  i. 
7,  Digression  2,  page  (>?,  Parisiis  1568.)  Now  we 
crave  of  Dagger,  John,  Bishop,  the  solution  of  this 
chronological  phenomenon;  upon  the  supposition  that 
Pinet  put  in  the  filth  of  the  Tax  Book,  after  Hspence 
had  thus  spoken!      And   if  he  has   any    doubts  as  to  the 


THE  TAX  BOOK  OF  THK  Un.MAN   CHAHCERT. 

reality  of  Espence's  testimony  or  even  its  nature,  Lei  hiiu 
consult  tht'  Index  of  Qwiroga  his  brother  in^uisit 
ral,  for  Spam.    Mad.  L634  foL  72, 

But  let  us  try  another  witness  as  to  this 
Nicholas  Clemangis  was  elected  rector  of  the  Univ< 
Paris,  1393;  he  was  alterwarda  secretary  to  pope  Bi  m  - 
dict  XIII.;  and  lived  till  about  i  1 10;  say  within  our 
hundred  and  twenty-fire  years  next  before  Pinet's,  and 
largely  over  two  hundred  years  before  Banck's  edition  of 
the  Tax  Book.  And  yet  tins  prelate,  in  many  passages 
has  quoted  the  facts  and  almost  the  words  of  the  disputed 
book.  Speaking  of  exactions  by  dispensations  in  his 
Tract  de  Prcesulibus,  p.  &6,  he  thus  breaks  forth:  "The 
•  •hurch  which  Christ  has  taken  for  his  spouse,  without 
wrinkle  or  blemish,  disfigured  by  this  horrible  villany,  is 
now  the  shop  of  all  pride,  of  all  trading,  of  all  filching 
and  stealing,  where  the  sacraments  are  hung  out  for  a 
show,  all  the  orders,  even  the  priesthood  itself;  where 
favours  are  sold  for  silver,  dispensations  for  not  preach- 
ing, licenses  for  non-residence:  where  all  offices  and 
benefices,  yea,  even  sins  are  bought  and  sold:  lastly,  where 
masses  and  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  body  are  set 
to  sale,"  &c.  &c.  These  samples  present  the  argument; 
and  we  can  only  pretend  to  that  at  present.  If  any  of 
our  readers  wish  to  look  into  this  sort  of  testimony,  they 
will  find  a  tolerable  compend  in  the  Review  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent,  writen  in  French  by  an  eminent  advocate, 
councellor  to  Henry  IV.,  and  translated  into  English  by 
Gerard Langbaine of  Oxford,  in  1638;  especialfy  lib.  2, 
rap  4,  which  treats  of  the  pope's  taxes. 

There  is  another  aspect  of  this  argument  worth  a  mo- 
ment's consideration.  We  find  that  the  Tractatus  Trac- 
tatuum,  seu  Oceanus  universe  Juris,  §y.,  which  appeared 
at  Venice,  was  published  by  Papists  and  with  papal  ap- 
probation throughout.  The  15th  vol.,  dated  in  1584, 
was  published  by  order  of  pope  Gregory  XIIL  But  in 
that  15th  vol.  p.  368  as  well  as  in  the  6th  vol.  issued 
1523,  behold  this  identical  Taxes  Cancellarice!  Strange, 
that  infallible  pontiffs  should  twice  re-publish  a  gross  for- 
gery on  their  own  church;  once  forty  years  before  the 
forgery  existed,  and  again  twenty  years  after  Pinet  had 
completed  it 


292  THE   TAX   BOOK  OF  THE   ROMAN   CHANCER*'. 

Again;  on  a  minute  examination  of  the  titles  of  the 
Contested  editions,  and  those  of  indisputable  genuine- 
ness, we  find  the  following  (acts.     The  title  of  Pineth 

forged  edition  of  1564,  was,  uTaxe  dcs  Parties  Oisuelles 
de  la   Boutique  dm  Pope" — (See  Bayle,  article  Pinet. 

Note  B.)  The  title  of  the  Paris  edition  of  1530,  pub- 
lished by  ToUSSaint  Denis,  was,  uTaX4B  ('"/K  tllar  icr 
Jlpostolicce,  et  Taxce  Paenitentiaricc  it'uli  m  ■  Ipostolica." — 

(Bayle,  as  above.)  The  edition  published  in  Rome  in 
1514,  by  order  of  Pope  Leo  X,  has  this  title:  u  Taxce 
Cancellaricc  Jlpostolicce,  et  Taxce  Sacrce  Penitentiarici' 
Apostolicce" — (Bayle,  as  above.)  Now  the  fact  is,  that 
the  quotations  and  references,  by  the  learned,  before  the 
date  of  Pinet's  edition,  are  all  by  express  citation  of  titles, 
or  by  indubitable  references — to  the  indisputable  papal 
editions,  as  containing  all  the  tremendous  things  which 
D.  J.  B.  says  wTere  forged  by  Protestants!  And  even 
after  the  date  of  Pinetfs;  and  even  Banckh  edition  which 
was  nearly  a  century  later,  most  of  the  citations  are  still 
from  the  Papal  editions.  The  difference  of  the  titles  ren- 
ders the  mode  of  citation  a  perfectly  clear  argument  on 
the  subject!  Take  Claude  dJEspence  as  an  example;  who 
in  the  passages  quoted  and  referred  to  by  us,  cites  the 
Papal  editions,  by  their  exact  title:  and  this  before  the 
publication  of  Pinet's.  Take,  also,  the  case  of  l)\iu- 
bigne,  in  his  Confession  de  Sanci,  printed  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Memorabilia  of  the  reign  of  Henry  111.,  which 
was  published  after  PineVs  edition;  but  in  which  he 
quotes  and  cites  the  Tax  Book  by  the  Papal  title,  and 
not  by  that  given  by  Pinet.  Now  here  is  a  small  matter 
of  fact  which  we  are  curious  to  see  solved-— in  a  plausi- 
ble way  by  Dagger  J.  B.:  and  which,  in  default  of  some 
solution  puts  the  subject  to  rest. 

In  further  collateral  illustration  and  proof  of  the  truth 
for  which  we  now  contend,  the  reader  is  requested  to  con- 
sult any  history  of  the  Council  of  Constance:  and  he  will 
find  that  the  Reforming  College  as  it  was  called,  of  that 
famous  council,  agreed  on  certain  important  articles,  and 
presented  corresponding  resolutions  to  the  council.  In 
Lerfant's  History  of  that  Council  (London  Ato  edition  of 
1730)  several  pages  of  the  vii.  Book,  are  taken  up  with 


THE  TAX  BOOK  OF  THfc!  ROMAN  CHANCERY.     2!>3 

this  subject  and  report;  which  the  reader  will  find  on  pp. 
345.-349  of  Vol.  ii.  The  reference  in  the  Index  of  the 
work  is  thus  u  Tax  of  the  Chancery  of  Rom^"—  and  the 
subject  matter  is  specifically,  the  reforms  proposed  in  the 
Chancery.  This  was  nearly  a  hundred  years  before  the 
issuing  of  the  first  edition  of  the  printed  Tax  Book,  cited 
by  De  Potter,  and  above  fifty  years  before  the  earliest 
recension  of  any  kind  known  to  Panzer;  and  the  com- 
motion raised  at  Constance,  most  probably  led  to  the 
more  orderly  transaction  of  the  business  of  the  Chance- 
ry—and the  final  publication  of  its  regiilar  charges.  On 
page  346  is  a  quotation  from  the  Tableau  de  la  Coin'  de 
Rome,  of  Aymon,  by  which  it  appears  that  in  his  time, 
the  duty  of  taxing  the  bulls  sued  out  of  the  Pope's 
Chancery,  appertained  to  the  "Abbreviators  of  the  petty 
bar,  with  the  Apostolical  Registers."  In  further  illustra- 
tion of  the  whole  subject,  reference  is  made  to  pp.  147 
and  151  of  Aymorts  book.  This  seems  to  show  most 
conclusively,  that  there  has  been  for  ages,  a  Tariffs  at 
which  dispensations  might  be  had,  at  the  Pope's  Chan- 
cery. But  this  is  equivalent  to  the  proof  of  the  genuine- 
ness of  this  Tariff ;  for  it  is  the  chief  one  ever  knowrn  to 
exist;  the  direct  proof  of  its  genuineness  is  clear  and  full; 
and  every  separate  principle  of  it  can  be  established  as 
true  papism,  aliunde.  But  there  is  a  most  overwhelming: 
fact,  in  regard  to  this  matter  which  seems  to  put  all  cavil 
at  an  end.  There  is  in  the  British  Museum,  a  MS.  col1 
lection  of  these  Taxce.  It  is  found  in  the  Harleiam  de- 
partment, and  is  described  in  the  catalogue  of  the  MSS! 
in  it,  in  4  vols,  folio  1808,  in  vol.  II.  p.  262  &c.  The 
collection  consists  of  two  volumes  small  folio,  Num. 
1850™ 1.  2,  written  on  vellum,  and  having  every  appear- 
ance of  genuineness  and  antiquity.  These  identical 
volumes  were  withdrawn  from  the  archives  of  the  Ro- 
man Chancery  on  the  death  of  Innocent  XII.,  by  the 
identical  John  Aymon,  Apostolical  Prothonofory,  men- 
tioned above;  and  were  purchased  of  him,,  in  Holland,  at 
an  immense  price,  by  the  earl  of  Oxford.  They  contain 
copies  of  the  Taxoe,  both  Cancillarice  a nd  Penitenfiarice 
in  various  forms.  A  full  account  of,  these  remarkable 
volumes  is  given  in  the  catalogue  itself,  already  refe  . 
25* 


294  Till:  TAX  BOOK  OF  THE  ROMAN  CHANCERY. 

to;  which  in  this  part,  is  understood  to  have  been  written 
by  the  celebrated  Mr.  Wanley.  What  saith  the  ccloid 
bishop  of  Charleston" — to  this? 

We  feai  Dagger,  John,  Bishop,  is  n  <n  to 

reading  sermons — especially  Protesl  here- 

fore  ask  him  to  excuse  us  for  referring  to  on  piece 

of  information  somewhat  germain  to  the  case  in  hand. — 
In  vol.  i.  of  the  Morning  Exercises,  page  606 — in  the 
xvii.  sermon  of  the  vol.  are  these  words:  "There  is  a 
book  lately  published  by  Anthony  Egans  B.  D.  late  con- 
fessor general  of  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  now  min- 
ister of  the  gospel  according  to  the  reformed  religion. — 
The  title  of  it  is  thus,  "  The  Book  of  Rates  now  used  in 
the  Sin- Custom- House  of  the  Church  and  Court  of  Rome , 
containing  the  Bulls,  Dispensations,  and  Pardons  for  all 
manner  of  Villanies  and  Wickedness  icith  the  several 
sums  of  moneys  given  and  to  be  paid  for  them."  The  au- 
thor then  proceeds  to  quote  some  of  the  rates.  The  ser- 
mon we  quote  from,  is  against cc  The  popish  doctrine  ichich 
forbideth  to  marry,'-  &c.  and  the  vol.  it  is  in,  was  print- 
ed in  London  in  1675.  We  should  like  to  know  of  D.  J. 
B.  what  book  that  was  to  which  reference  is  had;  and 
whether  a  confessor  general  for  all  Ireland,  who  lived 
near  two  hundred  years  closer  to  the  fountain  head  of  the 
present  dispute — is  not  as  good  a  witness,  as  a  Cork 
priest,  bishop  inpartibus — of  the  present  day? 

There  is  one  kind  of  indirect  evidence  which  is  of 
very  great  force,  and  which  might  be  accumulated  to  the 
extent  of  many  volumes:  we  mean  proofs  of  the  condi- 
tion of  the  court  and  clergy  of  Rome  in  those  ages, 
wrhich  produced,  and  which  raost unblushingly  made  pub- 
lic the  Tax  Book  of  the  Chancery:  proofs  which  show 
that  just  such  a  book  was  to  be  looked  for  in  just  such 
times.  We  make  a  few  citations  and  references.  Jtttoa- 
rus  Pchfgius,  quoted  by  Bellannin  as  r.n  ardeir,  defender 
of  John  xxii.  who  perhaps  first  published  the  7<..r<r,  in 
his  work  l)c  Planet  a  Ecclesice,  says  of  the  prelates  at 
Rome,  "They  celebrate  the  mysteries  for  money;  they  sell 
the  body  of  JeMis  Christ;  the)  consecrate  and  ordain  for 
money;  they  give  the  sacraments  for  money;  they  buy  and 
sell  the  sacraments,"  &c.      Again  he  continues,  UI  have 


THE   TAX  BOOK  OF   THE  ROMAN   (  llANCLUV.  295 

been  often  in  Ihe  c  hamber  of  our  Lord's  chamberlain,  and 
have  always  seen  money  changers  and  tables  covered 
with  gold, — and  ecclesiastiea  who  counted  and  weighed 
the  gold.'1     The  whole  detail  of  this  business  is  given  in 

the  Tableau  de  la  Coin'  de  Rome,  of  Jean  .lymon, already 
cited.     He  was  domestic  prelate  to  pope  innocent  xi. — 

His  work  is  abridged  and  published  at  the  end  of  the 
edition  of  1744  of  the  Taxe  de  la  Chancellcrie  Romaine. 
And  this  state  of  things  had  been  long  continued;  for 
Mathar  Paris  (in  Henry  iii.  year  L225)  reports  a  letter 
of  Pope  Honorius  iii.,  in  which  he  avows  in  terms,  "That 
the  desire  of  riches  had  been  at  all  times  the  scandal  and 
opprobrium  of  the  See  of  Rome;  which  clearly  appeared 
in  this,  that  nothing  could  be  done  at  Rome  without  a 
great  expenditure  of  money — and  without  making  large 
presents." — Eneas  Silvias,  afterwards  Pope  Pius,  li. 
says,  (Opera  p.  149,  Epistle  56,)  "There  is  nothing 
which  the  court  of  Rome  will  not  accord  for  money;  it 
sells  imposition  of  hands  and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 
and  with  money  you  may  obtain  all  sorts  of  pardons." — 
Baptist  Mantouan  has  a  Latin  couplet  in  his  iii.  Book  De 
Calamit  Suorum  Temp,  to  this  effect,  "Rome  sells  tem- 
ples, altars,  priesthood,  sacrifice,  incense, prayers,  heaven, 
and  God  himself."  This  man  was  prior  general  of  the 
order  of  Carmelites,  at  a  period  when  the  Tax  Book  of 
the  Roman  Chancery  was  openly  published  in  Rome;  and 
had  in  the  book  itself,  proof  enough  of  his  statement. — 
We  will  pass  by  for  the  present,  Conrad  of  Usperg, — 
St.  Bernard,  Ives  of  Chartres,  Godfrey  of  Vendome, 
Durandus,  John  Gerson,  John  de  Hesse,  Peter  d'Aille, 
Theoderic  Vrie,  Petrarch,  A  ntonine  Archbishop  of  Flor- 
ence, the  Monk  Langius,  Rodeiic  of  Zamera,  Mura- 
tori,  Ranaldus,  Guichiardini,  .Maimburg — and  scores 
besides;  we  pass  them  all,  and  all  their  indirect  testimony 
by;  supposing  that  those  cited,  who  saw  with  their  eyes, 
and  had  not  a  whit  of  interest  to  confess  more  than  the 
truth,  are  as  likely  to  know  the  truth  as  a  Cork  priest 
bishop  in  partibus,  who  flourishes  near  four  hundred 
years  after  the  book  first  appeared,  and  who  has  all  pos- 
sible interest  to  deny  the  truth. 

Amongst  the  indirect  evidences  against  Dagger,  John, 
Bishop,  a   very  strong  one,  is  his  disingenuous   way  of 


29G  THE   TAX  BOOK  OF  THE   ROMAN  CHANCERY. 

making  ({notations,  extracts,  and  statements  both  of  fact 
and  authority,  Let  us  set  down  one,  which  seems  to 
settle  one  of  his  main  defences.  If  we  understand  him, 
he  desires  to  have  it  considered  that  the  True  Texa  Can* 
cellarice,  could  he  only  one  of  two  things,  (1)  mere  : 
to  the  pope's  officers  who  prepare,  and  deliver  the  hulls, 
briefs,  &c;  or  (2)  fines  imposed  for  crimes  already  com- 
mitted. If  they  be  the  former,  the  case  is  settled — -for 
the  pardon  is  admitted;  and  the  fact  of  the  pardon,  more 
than  the  price  of  it,  is  the  question, — though  he  indeed 
in  that  view,  admits  that  a  price  is  paid.  But  as  to  the 
notion  of  fine,  the  argument  of  D.J.  B.  is  flatly  contrary 
to  his  own  Canon  Law.  In  the  Corpus  Juris  Canonici 
Vol.  iii.  Be  Judiciis,  Pars  ii.  Titulus  vi.  Sectio  viii.  It 
is  expressly  wTritten,  UA  pecuniary  penalty  ought  not  to  be 
inflicted  for  crimes!!" 

Any  one  who  will  examine  the  contents  of  these  Taxce 
— will  at  once  perceive,  the  most  abundant  reason  why 
the  court  and  church  of  Rome  should  desire  to  conceal 
them  from  Protestants,  even  if  they  were  in  full  force  and 
constant  use.  And  this  fact,  in  the  absence  of  all  proof, 
raises  a  strong  suspicion  against  all  interested  efforts  to 
discredit  them.  It  is  plain  enough  that  what  may  pass 
very  well  at  Rome — may  not  be  marketable  in  the  United 
States;  and  therefore  it  is  easy  to  see,  why  "my  lord 
England" — should  earnestly  desire  to  bring  into  doubt, 
the  authenticity  of  a  book,  not  only  immoral  to  the  last 
degree,  but  absolutely  atrocious.  Crimes  unknown,  as 
one  might  have  hoped,  amongst  civilized,  not  to  say 
amongst  Christian  men;  crimes  against  truth,  decency, 
modesty,  nature,  religion,  and  virtue;  crimes  so  horrible, 
as  not  to  bear  repetition,  in  a  work  like  the  present,  even 
in  the  disguise  of  a  dead  tongue;  are  all  set  down  in  these 
detestable  Taxce  as  common  and  familiar  things,  in  the 
usual  routine  of  the  chancery  of  papal  see. 

We  merely  set  out  to  give  a  sam]  le  o(  the  true  state 
of  this  question  of  fact, — as  judged  by  indirect  testimony. 
The  papal  controversy  is  the  most  extensive  of  all  that 
ever  existed;  and  oi'  this  controversy,  amongst  the  most 
extensive  portions,  are  the  testimonies  to  papal  corrup- 
tion— and  especially  to  the  licentiousness  and  rap  eity  of 
the  court  of  Rome. 


297 


NUMBER    XXX. 

SECRETA    MONITA     SOCIETATIS    JESU. 

I.   It  is  certainly  of  the  greatest  importance,   in  deter- 
mining the  value  of  the  Secreta  Momta  as  evidence  in 
estimating  the  character  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  to  come 
to  some  satisfactory  conclusion  as  to  the  authenticity  of 
the  work  itself.      If  it  can  be  shown  to  be  really  what  it 
purports  to  be,  then  indeed  the  most  secret  principles  of 
the  most  extraordinary   and   most   universally   ext  crated 
fraternity  that  ever  appeared  amongst  men,  are  plainly 
laid  open  to  the  public  view;  and  all  may  see  the  proibund 
source  of  all  those  active,  extended  and  unceasing  oper- 
ations, by  which  these  persons  kept  so  large  a  part  of  the 
world  in  ceaseless  commotion  for  so  many  years.     If  in- 
deed the  work  be  not  perfectly  authentic,  that  is,  if  in- 
stead of  being  the  real  Secret  Counsels  of  the  order  ema- 
nating from  its  very  head,  revealed  by  accident;  it  should 
appear  to  be  a  revelation  made  by  an  expelled  Jesuit,  as 
some  of  them  say,  or  a  mere  suppositious  composition  as 
others  pretend,  compiled  from  their  various  authors  and 
embodying  what  an  enemy  might  suppose  they  would  say, 
if  they  officially  propounded  their  real  secret  instructions; 
the  case  would  perhaps  appear  to  be  somewhat  weaken- 
ed.    But  even  then,  if  an  expelled  member  had  written 
it,  it  might  all  be  true;  and  while  the  power  to  show  it 
was  not,  if  indeed  it  was  not,  would  be  complete  in  the 
society,  its  failure  to  do  so,   added  to  inherent  evidence 
of  genuineness,  in  the  work  itself,  might  establish  its  re- 
ality on  as  unquestionable  grounds  as  if  it  had  the  im- 
primatur of  the  general  himself  upon  its  face.     Or  if  the 
last  supposition  can  be  considered  as  possible,  a  compi- 
lation of  the  most  clear  and  well  defined  rules  of  action 
drawn  from  unquestionable  sources,  and  thrown  together 
into  one  volume,  would  seem,  if  possible,  the  very  clear- 
est mode  of  exhibiting  the  general  and  real  spirit  of  the 
body,   to   which   all  the  writers    belonged.     There   are 


298  BECRETA   M0N1TA   SOCIETATIS  JESU. 

schools  of  morals,  of  politics,  of  crime,  as  well  as  of  let- 
ters  and  of  all  things  else.  It  is  a  wide,  terrible,  and  pe- 
culiar school  whose  opinions  and  conduct  are  illustrated 
in  the   Secrete  Monita.     And   if  it  had  been  faithfully 

done,  by  the  laborious  compilation  and  classification  of 
materials  drawn  from  a  thousand  sources,  a  more  impres- 
sive and  fair  method  cannot  well  be  imagined. 

II.  It  is  certainly  past  all  dispute  thai  this  book  has, 
for  a  very  long  period,  been  in  possession  of  the  world. — 
Here  it  is,  handed  down  to  us  through  several  centuries 
To  sneer  at  it,  and  pass  it  by,  is  simply  to  establish  its 
unanswerable  authority.  To  be  unable  to  give  any  satis- 
factory account  of  it,  is  to  let  it  prove  itself.  It  exists. 
It  could  not  have  produced  itself.  Whence  did  it  comer 
But  three  solutions  are  possible. 

1.  It  is  an  authentic  wTork,  containing  the  real  facts  it 
pretends  to  contain;  and  being  what  it  purports  to  be. 

2.  It  is  the  work  of  some  expelled  Jesuit,  and  may  be 
more  or  less  true,  according  to  his  knowledge  of  what  he 
tried  to  reveal,  or  his  integrity  in  telling  truly  what  he 
knew. 

3.  It  is  the  work  of  an  enemy,  who  never  was  a  Jesuit, 
but  who  has  pretended  to  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  chief 
authorities  of  that  order,  what  he  believed  they  would 
say,  if  they  uttered  their  real  sentiments  on  the  points 
here  treated  of. 

III.  Let  us  then  briefly  examine  each  of  these  suppo- 
sitions in  turn.  And  first,  is  this  work  authentic?  I  reply, 
there  is  scarcely  a  particle  of  reason  to  doubt  it. 

1.  In  the  British  Museum  there  is  a  work  printed  at 
Venice  in  1596,  with  this  title  uHce  Formula  diversarum 
Provisionum  a  Gaspare  Passarcllo  summo  studio  in  unum 
collectce  et  per  ordinem  in  suis  locis  annotatte"  At  the 
end  of  that  (and  where  more  likely?)  the  Secreta  Mon- 
ita,  in  Latin,  is  copied  in  manuscript,  apparently  by  a 
Jesuit,  for  his  own  private  use;  with  solemn  cautions  at 
the  end,  similar  to  those  found  in  the  printed  preface  to 
the  work  itself,  that  the  utmost  care  was  to  be  taken  that 
few,  and  these  most  trusty,  should  know  them;  and  that 
if  ever  imputed  to  the  society,  they  must  be  denied. 

2.  In  the  Lidex  Librorum  Proliibitorum.  Pn  VII.  Romcc 
1819,  p.  210,  is  the  following  entry.     "Monita  Privata 


SECRETA  MONITA   SOC1ETATIS  JESU.  299 

Societatia  Jesu.  Deer.  26,  Martii  1621."  This  edition 
is  not  generally  known  to  the  learned.  Jt  is  older,  count- 
ing back  onl)  to  the  date  of  the  Decree  prohibiting  it, 
by  nearly  forty  years — than.  No.  3j  the  earliest  English 
translation  of  the  work.  It  is  also  stated  by  the  author 
of  LesJesuites  Remis  en  cause,  himself  doubtless  a  Jesuit, 
that  the  Secreta  Monita  was  put  into  the  hides  in  1616; 
but  \ve  have  not  been  able  to  find  the  entry.  Most  probably 
the  work  was  published  in  1616, and  put  into  the  Index 
in  1621 — as  above  stated. 

3.  In  the  year  1658,  there  was  a  translation  of  the 
work  from  Latin  into  English,  published  in  England. 
This  edition  is  frequently  to  be  met  with.  In  the  preface 
to  it,  it  is  related  that  duke  Christian  of  Brunswick, 
took  possession  of  the  Jesuit  college  at  Paderborn,  in 
Westphalia,  when  he  entered  that  place,  and  gave  the 
library  and  manuscripts  to  the  Capuchins,  who  found  the 
Secreta  Monita  amongst  the  archives  of  the  Rector. 
It  is  also  asserted  that  other  copies  were  found  at  Prague 
and  elsewhere. 

4.  In  the  year  1660,  an  edition  was  published  in  Italian, 
with  the  title,  UI  Lupi  smascheratinelle  confutatione  e  tra- 
duzione  del  libra  intitolato  Monita  Secreta  societatis 
J esu,  in  virtu  de'quali  giunzero  i  Gesuita  alV  orrido  ed 
esegrabile  assassinio  di  sua  sagra  reale  maesta  fedelissirna 
Bon  Giuseppe  i.  re  di  Portogallo;  con  un  appendice  di 
documenti  rari  ed  inediti." 

5.  Dr.  Compton,  the  celebrated  bishop  of  London, 
published  another  English  verson  of  the  Secreta  Monita 
in  the  year  1669;  having  satisfied  himself,  after  full  ex- 
amination, of  the  genuineness  of  the  work. 

6.  In  the  year  1717,  there  wras  published  at  Amster- 
dam, a  Latin  edition  of  the  Secreta  Monita  under  the 
title  of  "Machiavelli  Mus  Jesuiticus,"  inscribed  to  John 
KrausiuSy  a  Jesuit.  A  copy  of  this  edition  is  in  the 
British  Museum. 

7.  There  are  also  in  the  British  Museum  several  Ger- 
man editions  of  the  Secreta  Monita. 

8.  In  the  year  1722,  another  edition  of  this  work  was 
published  in  London,  dedicated  to  Sir  Robert  Walpoley 
prime  Minister  of  England. 


300  SECRETA  MONITA   SOCIETATIS  JESL. 

1).  Another  edition,  and  which  is  supposed  to  have 
befen  the  hist  that  appeared  in  England  was  published  in 

17-H).  This,  as  well  as  the  last  preceding  edition,  has 
the  Latin,  and  English,  on  opposite  pages;  and  are  both 
preserved  in  the  British  Museum. 

10.  In  the  year  1727,  a  French  edition  of  the  Secreta 
Monita  \v;is  published  at  Cologne  under  the  title  Les 
Mysteries  Itt  plus  secret  des  Jesuites  content  <  rses 
Pieces  originates. 

11.  In  the  year  1831,  the  first  American  edition  of  the 
Secreta  Monita  was  published  atPrjncelon  N.  J.  with 
the  original  Latin  on  one  page,  and  a  very  diffuse  Eng- 
lish translation  on  the  other.  This  edition  is  said  on  the 
title  page  to  be  printed  verbatim  from  the  English  edition 
of  1725;  which  is  one  not  contained  in  the  above  list,  and 
will  therefore  be  added,  by  the  reader  as  an  additional 
testimony.  In  the  advertisement  to  this  edition  a  state- 
ment is  made,  which  I  suppose  relates  to  the  edition, 
numbered  3  in  the  above  series.  If  howTever  the  state- 
ment relates  to  a  different  edition,  it  forms  an  additional 
support  to  the  proof  in  the  case.  The  story  in  substance 
is  that  a  bookseller  in  Amsterdam,  by  name  John  Schip- 
per,  bought  a  copy  of  the  Secreta  Monita  at  Antwerp, 
and  reprinted  it.  The  Jesuits  hearing  that  he  had  such 
a  work,  demanded  it  of  him,  but  he  had  sent  it  to  Hol- 
land. A  Jesuit  of  Amsterdam,  soon  afterwards  learned 
from  Van  Eyk,  a  Catholic  bookseller,  that  Schipper  was 
printing  a  book  that  concerned  the  Society;  he  replied  that 
if  it  was  only  the  Rules  of  the  Society  he  should  not  be 
under  any  concern:  but  desired  him  to  ascertain  what  it 
was.  When  the  bookseller  discovered  that  it  was  the 
Secreta  Monita,  the  father  greatly  agitated  said,  it  must 
be  denied  that  this  piece  comes  from  the  Society.  As 
soon  however  as  the  book  appeared,  the  wThole  edition 
nearly  was  bought  up  by  the  Jesuits.  From  one  of  the 
fewr  copies  not  suppressed,  the  book  wras  reprinted,  with 
this  story  prefixed,  there  said  to  be  taken  from  two  Ro- 
man Catholics  of  credit. 

Now  here  is  1st,  the  Venice  edition  or  159G,  or  there- 
abouts; 2,  the  prohibited  edition  of  1(r21;  3,  the  English 
edition  of  1658,  taken   from   the   Paderbom  and  Prague 


SECRETA  MONITA   SOCIETATIS  JESU.  301 

copies;  4.  the  Italiiin  edition  of  1560;  B,j  Dr.  Compton's 
edition  of  1669, to  which  let  us  add  the  other  English  edi- 
tions of  1122,  1725  and  1746,  and  the  American  editions 
of  IS'M  ci in i  5,  as  all  drawn  from  the  >urce,  though 

this  is  entirely  gratuitous;  6,  the  Amsterdam  edition  of 
1717,  to   which  '^^^  the  other  two  Amsterdam  editions, 

mentioned  in  the  first  American  edition,  whi<  h  is  also 
gratuitous;  7,  the  several  editions,  (supposing  them  to 
be  reprints  pf  each  other,  which  is  gratuitous, J  found  in 
German  in  the  British  Museum;  8,  the  French  edition  of 
1727.  At  the  least,  we  produce  eight  separate,  and 
wholly  independent  proofs,  from  eight  different  sources 
that  this  is  a  perfectly  genuine  and  authentic  record.  These 
records  are  found  in  the  Latin,  Italian,  German,  French 
and  English  Languages.  They  extend  over  a  period  ex- 
ceeding two  hundred  years.  They  were  found  in  five  or 
six  sovereign  states,  the  most  of  which  professed  the 
Catholic  faith,  and  one  of  them,  Venice,  under  the  very 
eyes  of  the  sovereign  pontiff.  And  they  all  agree,  in 
every  fact,  stated  by  each.  Now  it  would  be  the  most 
incredible  event  ever  established  by  proof,  if  this  various 
and  concurring  evidence  should  be  proven  to  have  acci- 
dentally conduced  all  to  the  very  same  result,  and  still  all 
be  false.  It  would  on  the  other  hand  be  the  most  extra- 
ordinary circumstance  ever  conceived  of,  that  so  many 
persons,  in  so  distant  places,  and  so  separated  by  ages, 
should  conspire,  and  succeed  in  practising  such  a  fraud 
as  this,  upon  the  minds  of  men.  Indeed  it  is  hard  to  im- 
agine, how  the  genuineness  and  perfect  authenticity  of 
any  record,  could  be  established  on  more  irrefiagable 
proofs. 

IV.  There  are,  however,  those  who  deny  that  the  Se- 
creta  Moxita  is  authentic:  but  make  the  allegation  con- 
tained in  the  second  of  the  three  suppositions  made  above. 
This  brings  us  to  consider,  whether  as  they  say,  this 
book  may  not  be  the  wTork  of  some  expelled  Jesuit,  and 
therefore  false. 

It  may  be  observed,  it  would  not  by  any  means  follow 
that  because  the  Jesuits  had  expelled  a  man,  therefore  all 
his  statements   must  necessarily  be  false.     Perhaps  the 
contrary  would  be  quite  as  fair  a  conclusion;  unless  in 
26 


3Q2  SECRETA   MO-MTA    SOCIETATiS  JESL', 

deed,  all  the   allegations  of  history  against  this  i 

false,     it  would  seem  amongst  the  most  probable  events, 

that  an   upright  man  who  chanced  to  become  | 

of  their  real  designs,  would  desire  to  leave  them  as  fast  as 

he  could;  and  would  thus  subject  himself  to  expulsion,  if 

that  was  their  way  of  treating  the  refract 

But  an  expelled  Jesuit  is  a  rarer  being,  even  than  a 
candid  one  The)  know  little  of  priests,  littl<  of  Kane. 
nothing  of  the  spirit  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  pro- 

fanely call  themselves;  who  can  for  one  moment  suppose, 
that  the  high  and  trusty  dignitaries  of  the  order,  (and 
none  else  know  their  secrets,) ---would  escape  with  ex- 
pulsion, and  the  power  to  reveal  them.  The  cord,  the 
bowl,  the  dagger,  and  the  dungeon,  are  instruments  not 
perfectly  unknown  to  this  fraternity;  and  none  ever  knew 
better,  that  the  dead  speak  not.  The  light  of  history 
must  be  put  out,  and  the  ferocious  spirit  that  even  in  this 
free  land  gnashes  on  us  with  its  hideous  teeth,  must  be 
more  warily  concealed,  before  such  stories  about  expelled 
Jesuits  can  gain  credence. 

But  if  this  were  the  work  of  expelled  Jesuits, — the  or- 
der must  have  been  peculiarly  unhappy.  For,  from  the 
proofs  adduced,  there  must  have  been  many  of  them, 
widely  separated  in  country  and  distant  by  generations 
from  each  other!  This  Venitian  Jesuit  about  1596;  this 
Jesuit  who  published  the  edition  of  16 16-21;  this  Jesuit 
of  1658;  this  Italian  Jesuit  of  1660;  this  Jesuit  at  Am- 
sterdam in  1717;  these  Jesuits  at  Prague  and  Paderborn 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  those 
French  Jesuits  at  Cologne  far  into  the  eighteenth.  How 
could  it  be,  that  so  many  of  them  should  have  been  ex- 
pelled as  it  for  the  very  purpose  of  miraculously  writing 
falsehoods,  that  were  perfectly  identical!  Upon  the 
whole,  this  is  a  better  story  than  that  for  which  some  are 
silly  enough  to  say  they  have  the  unanimous  consent  of 
the  fathers;  about  the  miraculous  translation  of  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  by  seventy  men,  in  seventy  cells  who  in  an  in- 
credibly short  time  turned  all  the  old  Testament  from 
Hebrew  into  Greek,  all  using  identically  the  same  words! 

The  story  set  forth  by  Dallas  the  English  defender  of 
the  Jesuits,  and  now  currently  repeated  and  relied  on  by  all 


SECRETA   MONITA   SOCIETATIS  JESU.  303 

their  friends;  is  that,  one  Jerome  Zarowich,  an  expelled 
Polish  Jesuit,  wrote  the  Secrete  Monita,  and  publish- 
ed it  in  Cracow  in  1616.  To  confirm  this  story,  Dallas 
and  the  author  of  Les  Jesuites  rends  en  cause,  quote  Cor- 
dcra,  Histor.  Societ  Jesu;  whom  the  former  calls  "an 
elegant  historian," — but  who  was  in  fact,  if  Mortri  is  to 
be  relied  on,  an  obscure  Jesuit  schoolmaster,  of  the  early 
part  of  the  XVI.  century.  Dallas  goes  on  to  confirm  his 
assertion,  by  quoting  from  the  Jesuit  Gretser,  but  the 
Frenchman,  being  more  wary,  did  not  follow  him.  Du 
Pin,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History  (English  version  1725) 
vol.  on  the  XVII.  century.  Book  v.  p.  45,  gives  a  very 
minute  and  extended  account,  of  "James  Gretser,  Jesu* 
Uem"  in  which  unluckily  for  the  date  (1616)  fixed  forthe 
original  composition  of  the  Secreta  Monita,  this  emi- 
nent Pap  "  informs  us,  that  the  controversial  works  of 
this  Jesuit,  in  2  vols,  folio  were  published  at  Ingoldstadt  in 
1607,  and  in  1609.  And  yet  says  Dallas,  Gretser  proves 
the  Secreta  Monita,  to  have  been  first  published,  by 
the  expelled  Jesuit  Zarowich,  in  1616!  Try  again,  gen- 
tlemen; this  will  hardly  pass.  And  remember,  that  to  fail 
in  accounting  for  the  origin  of  such  a  book,  under  exist- 
ing circumstances;  is  to  let  the  book  prove  itself. 

But  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  any  one  man  could 
have  produced  the  whole  copies  of  the  work,  under  the 
circumstances  already  stated.  It  is  equally  absurd  to 
call  a  man  the  author  of  a  work  in  1616,  which  was  in 
existence  about  1596,  as  is  showm  above,  in  a  distant 
country  It  is  above  all  absurd  to  say,  that  the  Secre- 
ta Monita,  was  put  into  the  Index  of  prohibited  books, 
and  its  perusal  condemned  at  Rome  in  1616;  and  at  the 
same  time  to  say,  that  it  was  at  that  very  time  in  a  pro- 
cess of  composition  at  Cracow7  in  Poland,  hundreds  of 
leagues  from  Rome!  Or  if  we  rectify  this  papal  mistake 
and  insert  1621,  for  1616,  still  the  facts  show  the  great 
antiquity  of  the  work;  and  its  being  put  into  the  Prohibit- 
ory Index,  shows  the  great  anxiety  of  the  Jesuits  to  have 
it  suppressed;  and  confirms  the  story  told  in  the  first 
American  edition,  about  one  of  the  Amsterdam  editions. 
The  celebrated  Thomas  James,  who  died  in  May  1629 
aged  58;  wrote  some  of  his  ablest  controversial   tracts 


304  SECRETA  MONITA  SOCIETATIS  JESU. 

against  this  Grctzcr.  We  have  not  access  to  his  works 
at  present. 

These  person^  however  call  this  work,  a  mere  forgery: 
not  giving  the  expelled  Jesuit,  even  a  pretext  lor  his  al- 
leged libel  on  the  society.  This  is  as  ridiculous,  as  it  is 
false. 

In  the  first  place,  if  any  one  man  ever  lived  who  was 
capable  of  producing,  from  his  mind,  this  system  of  subtle, 
profound  and  all  grasping  crime,  (which  is  hardly  credi- 
ble;) then  it  may  be  confidently  maintained,  that  it  he  had 
ever  fallen  into  the  hands  of  this  society,  he  was  just  the 
man  that  the  world's  wealth  could  not  have  purchased 
from  them. 

Again,  whoever  will  attentively  read  over  these  Secre- 
ta  Monita,  will  at  once  perceive  that  they  exhibit  a 
system  so  peculiar  in  all  respects,  as  could  only  have  been 
suggested  and  concocted  under  the  most  extraordinary 
circumstances.  It  is  such  as  must  have  been  social  in 
its  origin,  founded  on  the  common  sagacity,  experience, 
forecast,  and  interests  of  several,  if  not  many,  utterly 
unscrupulous  minds.  There  is  no  possible  account  of 
this  system's  origin  that  can  be  so  incredible,  as  that 
which  pretends,  that  one  man  produced  it  by  mere  ex- 
cogitation. If  that  were  indeed  so,  it  would  be  the  great- 
est intellectual  wonder  the  world  ever  beheld. 

But  the  truth  is,  the  minute  proofs  which  establish  the 
fact  that  this  book  is  no  forgery,  are  so  remarkable,  as  to 
force  us  to  admit  its  genuineness,  or  to  shut  our  eyes  to 
truth. 

In  the  first  place,  the  style  of  the  Latin  composition 
is  such  that  it  must  have  been  written  by  persons  having 
slight  pretensions  to  classical  learning.  The  expressions 
are  occasionally  grossly  ungrammatical;  very  often  most 
singularly  vulgar.  And  yet  the  scope  of  the  whole  is 
awful! 

Again,  the  turn  of  the  expression  is  such  as  to  render 
it  ceitain,  that  the  authors  of  the  Latin  did  not  think  in 
English.  I  dare  not  use  the  same  confidence  as  to  other 
languages;  but  I  believe  no  scholar  will  deny,  that  the 
manner  of  writing  shows  that  the  authors  could  not  have 
thought  either  in  French  or  German.     It  is  probable  that 


SECRETA   MONITA   SOCIETATIS  JESU.  305 

one  individual  put  this  work  originally  into  form,  as  we 
find  the  expression  "inniHim," — /  fay,  SfC.;  and  it  is 
nearly  certain  that  that  person  was  a  Spaniard.  For  first, 
the  spelling  of  the  Latin  is  sometimes  peculiar,  and  re- 
sembles the  Spanish;  and  secondly,  usually  technical 
words  are  drawn  from  that  language.  Such  are  syndi- 
cationibus,  (Chap.  vii.  8.)  from  the  Spanish  Sindicado 
(judicium,)  the  judgment  or  authoritative  sentence,  in- 
stead of  the  French  Syndicate  which  could  not  exp 
the  sense  intended;  and  the  German  Syndicat  which  only 
means  the  tribunal  itself.  So  also  Cilicia,  (Chap.  vii.  9,) 
which  passing  by  the  Latin  Cilium,  from  which  the 
word  might  have  been  formed,  and  the  French  Cilice, 
uses  almost  the  very  letters  of  the  Spanish  Cilicio,  a  hair 
shirt, — 

Such  peculiarities  seem  to  draw  down  our  minds  al- 
most irresistibly,  to  the  very  band  of  detestable,  ignorant, 
and  yet  shrewd  conspirators,  who  originated,  and  for  the 
first  fifty  years  controled  this  fearful  and  and  diabolical  cor- 
poration.     This  very  speech  betrayeth  them. 

So  again  the  whole  turn  of  thought,  in  those  numer- 
ous and  most  infamous  passages  which  relate  to  females, 
and  especially  to  widows;  shows  evidently  that  the  pre- 
vailing ideas  were  drawn  from  a  state  of  society  neither 
English,  French,  nor  German;  but  peculiarly  Spanish. 

Thus  too,  some  of  the  most  incredible  things  contain- 
ed in  the  whole  book,  and  which  no  audacity  would  think 
of  forging,  and  nothing  but  absolute  truth  could  em- 
bolden a  man  to  assert,  from  the  very  unreasonableness 
of  the  thing,  and  the  certainty  of  exposure;  have  actual- 
ly been  remarkably  exemplified  in  practice,  years  after 
their  publication.  In  chap.  vi.  1,  for  example,  it  is  cool- 
ly laid  down  as  a  settled  rule  of  conduct,  that  initiated 
Jesuits  are  in  certain  cases  to  pledge  their  faith  and  stake 
their  souls,  on  the  behalf  of  those  they  wish  to  gain  over 
to  their  object.  This,  I  admit,  seems  wholly  incredible. 
And  yet  the  duke  of  Brunswick,  has  solemnly  declared 
to  mankind,  that  one  of  the  most  weighty  reasons  (being 
the  50th  of  his  series)  which  induced  him  to  turn  Catho- 
lic was  precisely  this.  He  had  asked  many  Protestants 
if  they  would  agree  to  be  damned  in  his  stead,  if  he  re- 
*  26* 


306  SECRETA  MONITA    SOCILTATIS  JESU. 

mained  a  Protestant,  and  their  religion  should  by  chance 
be  false;  and  oot  one  would  agree  to  it!  But  on  the  other 
hand,  many  Catholics  readily  agreed  to  such  terms,  if  lie 
would  become  one  of  them.  The  little  volume  contain- 
ing the  Duke's  reasons,  (just  Mich  reasons  as  one  would 
expeci  to  see  used  to  justify  such  an  act,)  has  been 
tively  banded  about  by  Papists,  ;. .  ;m  instrument  of  prose- 
lyting, in  various  parts  of*  America. 

Still  further,  the  most  minute  details  of  these  terrible 
chapters,  have  been  fulfilled  even  in  this  community,  at 
the  end  of  more  than  two  centuries  after  the  wonderful 
book  was  put  into  the  prohibitory  Index  at  Rome.  Of  this 
I  make  three  signal  citations. 

1.  In  the  preface  to  the  book,  they  are  directed  as  a 
principle,  to  deny  their  own  rules,  acts  and  every  thing, 
no  matter  how  true,  certain,  and  estimable,  provided 
policy  requires  it;  and  to  have  uninformed  or  unscrupulous 
members  to  confirm  their  denial  by  oath.  Now  in  this 
very  city,  I  have  known  priests,  and  many  others,  deny 
the  very  decrees  and  canons,  of  their  most  famous  coun- 
cils; and  openly  traduce  as  calumniators,  those  who  quoted 
their  books,  printed  by  Archiepiscopal  authority  in  our 
very  midst,  and  sold  daily  every  where! 

2.  In  the  first  chapter,  it  is  recommended  as  peculiar- 
ly important,  to  have  connections  with  hospitals,  prisofis, 
&c.  In  this  city  an  order  of  female  professed,  holding 
the  nearest  intercourse  with  the  Jesuits,  has  long  had  pos- 
session of  some  of  our  most  important  public  institutions 
for  the  sick.  In  two  of  these  at  least,  mass  altars  were 
put  up,  at  the  expense  of  the  public;  and  the  compensa- 
tion given  to  these  females,  (of  the  order,  two  of  whose 
members  were  witnesses  to  the  will  forged  by  the  late 
rector  of  the  cathedral)  kept  secret,  while  the  public. 
was  made  to  believe  that  nothing  was  paid  for  their  ser- 
vices. 

3.  In  chapter  vii.  the  method  is  pointed  out  by  which 
the  sons  of  widows  may  be  induced  to  join  this  monstrous 
fraternity.  Now  it  so  happens,  that  both  Mr.  Whitefield 
the  late  archbishop,  and  Mr.  Eccleston  the  present  one. 
Were  widows'  sous!  And  what  is  worse,  of  Protestant  ex- 
traction. And  what  is  final  and  conclusive,  if  the  best 
proof  in  our  reach  is  to  be  credited,  both  Jesuits! 


SECRETA   M0NITA   SOCIETATIS  JESU.  307 

These  are  only  specimens  of  the  exact  and  minute  ful- 
filment, of  lies  forged  two  hundred  years  ago,  as  they 
ild  persuade  us  by  an  expelled  Jesuit,  in  impotent 
ami  sheer  malice!     The  least  that  can  be  said  is,  that  our 

priests   and   prelates,    and   their  sisters,  have  I 

most  unfortunate  in  their  accidental  confirmations  of  those 
falsehoods! 

V.  We  now  come  to  the  last  supposition,  of  which  the 
case  seems  to  admit;  namely,  that  the  Secreta  Monita, 
is  the  work  of  some  implacable  enemy  of  the  society, 
who  never  was  a  member  of  it,  but  has  here  exhibited 
the  principles  by  which  he  believed,  or  at  least  wished 
to  persuade  others,  that  its  secret  affairs  were  conducted. 

In  refutation  of  such  an  opinion,  if  any  one  ever  held 
an  opinion  so  entirely  absurd,  it  may  in  general  be  ob- 
served; that  the  whole  amount  of  proof  for  two  centuries, 
and  the  universal  consent  of  all  disinterested  persons  to 
the  sulficiency  of  that  proof;  cannot  be  set  aside  by  the 
suggestion  even  of  probable  conjectures,  still  less  by  such 
as  are  highly  improbable,  indicating  a  different  state  of 
case.  Now  all  the  learned,  both  Protestants  and  Catho- 
lis,  so  mat  they  were  not  Jesuits,  have  constantly  and 
with  one  accord,  received  this  book  as  authentic  in  the 
fullest  sense.  Every  person  who  has  written  expressly 
on  the  subject  of  the  Jesuits,  not  being  one  of  their 
creatures;  all  who  have  had  occasion  to  touch  incident- 
ally on  the  subject;  all  compilers  of  current  opinion,  and 
received  truth  in  the  present  and  past  ages;  unanimously 
agree,  that  these  Secreta  Monita,  are  the  mystery  of 
iniquity  by  which  this  association  has  produced  so  much 
harm.  Surely  something  above  conjecture  and  assertion 
is  wanting,  to  rebut  this  unanimous  consent. 

It  may  also  be  observed,  that  he  who  will  carefully  ex- 
amine this  system,  will  see;  that  organized  as  human  so- 
ciety has  been,  and  without  pronouncing  on  the  merit  or 
demerit  of  the  system  itself;  it  is  in  the  highest  degree 
clear,  that  if  the  Jesuits  had  adopted  such  rules  of  con- 
duct as  these,  they  must  have  produced  great  and  last- 
ing effects.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  look  back  at  what 
the  Jesuits  have  done  and  suffered,  we  see  in  these  rules, 
the  clearest  exposition  of  their  greatness  and  their  over- 


308       SECRETA  MONITA  SOCIETATIS  JESU. 

throw.  To  my  mind,  no  proofs  of  genuineness  could  be 
more  complete,  than  those  which  thus  spring  up  from  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  and  stamp  themselves  indelibly 
upon  it. — And  this  is  most  remarkably  true,  if  we  re- 
member, that  the  production  and  publication  of  this  work, 
occurred  within  less  than  sixty  years  after  the  origin  of 
the  order,  —  before  the  developement  of  its  greatness,  and 
its  general  infamy  for  its  crimes;  and  has  come  down 
side  by  side  with  it  through  successive  ages,  crying  to 
the  world  at  once,  with  the  voice  of  prophecy  and  the 
undeniable  truth  of  history. 

The  difficulties  which  must  have  existed  in  the  way  of 
any  attempt  to  compile  such  a  work  as  this,  from  the 
most  abundant  sources  even,  are  so  very  great,  that  it  is 
next  to  impossible  any  man  could  have  done  it,  without 
committing  such  and  so  many  blunders  as  to  render  de- 
tection certain.  That  an  obscure  and  now  forgotten 
person  should  have  accomplished  such  a  work,  is  not  ca- 
pable of  belief.  That  such  a  person  should  have  com- 
pleted and  issued  such  a  work,  before  the  great  mass  of 
the  publications  from  which  they  say  he  pretended  to 
draw  it,  were  written;  is  childish  folly  to  assert.  And 
that  these  mighty  and  terrible  Jesuits  afterwards  wrote 
these  works  to  confirm  what  the  Secreta  Monita  had 
before  said,  or  to  give  a  colour  to  the  allegation  that  it  was 
so  compiled;  no  one  will  be  mad  enough  to  pretend. 

The  new  state  of  the  world  out  of  which  this  order 
arose,  made  it  different  from  all  things  that  had  existed 
before.  In  compiling  this  work,  the  author  must  know 
all  their  peculiarities,  must  understand  their  entire  design, 
must  enter  into  their  prejudices — must  see  through  their 
code  of  morals — must  be  perfect  master  of  their  grand 
scheme,  and  all  the  means  by  which  it  was  to  be  com- 
passed. See  their  peculiarities,  their  contempt  of  all 
other  orders,  their  asserting  contrary  to  all  other  orders, 
that  the  Church  was  a  monarchy  (chap.  ix.  16.)  their  de- 
votion to  the  education  of  youth,  their  special  intrigues 
with  the  great  their  snares  for  widows  and  servants — 
the  singular  privileges  personal  and  social  of  the  order, 
the  peculiar  difficulties  they  had  met  with  in  different 
places,  and  the  especial  hatreds  they  had  already  con- 


SECRETA   MONITA    SOCIETATIS  JESU.  309 

ceived,  tlieir  whole  plan,  and  their  w  bole  profound,  - 
cious,  corrupt,  complicated,  and  secret  machinery!     Who 

could  know,  who  could  gather  out  tered  volumes 

n  if  they  existed,  or  by  private  industry  and  opportu- 
nities, Buck  a  system  as  this!     It  is  out  of  all  the  bounds 

of  belief,  that  such  a  system  could  be  so  lormed,  and  then 
so  fitted,  as  this  has  fitted. 

But  if  any  choose  to  think  otherwise,  then  let  them  rest 
satisfied  that  he  who  should  gather  up  out  of  a  thousand 
sources  the  true  principles  and  policy  of  any  order  of  men, 
from  their  own  writings  and  actions;  would  thus  give  the 
most  complete  and  comprehensive  view  of  it,  that  could 
by  possibility  be  produced.  It  would  then  stand  forth, 
a  livino-,  moving,  acting  creature;  and  not,  as  in  the  naked 
principles,  dogmatically  laid  down,  a  great,  but  inanimate 
outline.  Let  them  rest  assured  moreover,  that  he  who 
did  this  in  the  case  in  hand,  with  no  very  ample  materi- 
als, at  the  period  the  work  was  done,  if  ever;  has  accom- 
plished a  work,  the  like  of  which  cannot  be  produced  out 
of  all  the  annals  of  the  world,  for  perfect  accuracy  and 
immeasurable  success.  If  such  a  man  ever  lived,  we 
may  safely  pronounce  him  the  most  remarkable  of  his 
race,  and  mourn  that  he  has  left  behind  no  trace  of  his 
being,  but  this  stupendous  triumph. 

VI.  There  is  in  this  case  one  peculiar  circumstance 
which  gives  to  the  authenticity  of  the  Secreta  Monita, 
the  seal  of  absolute  certainty;  while  it  casts  the  darkest 
shade  over  the  society.  Why  have  the  Jesuits  any  secret 
rules,  or  instructions,  or  principles  of  conduct,  or  objects 
of  effort?  Why  this  secrecy?  And  how,  at  so  early  a 
period  of  their  history  as  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  centu- 
ry, was  the  author  of  this  work,  supposing  him  to  have 
been  no  Jesuit,  to  have  known  with  such  certainty,  the 
existence  and  the  nature  of  such  secrets? 

For  many  years  they  did  indeed  deny  that  any  such  se- 
cret rules  existed;  and  doubtless,  they  will  now  deny, 
that  these  are  the  real  secret  counsels  by  which  their  affairs 
are  conducted.  But  about  the  middle  of  the  XVII.  cen- 
tury, when  the  society  was  suppressed  in  Portugal  for 
being  accessory  to  the  assassination  of  king  Joseph  I.  and 
suddenly  expelled  from  Spain  for  their  complicated  crimes; 


310  SECRETA  MONITA   BOCIETATI8  JESU. 

their  constitutions  and  secret  records  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  public.  And  in  the  famous  controversy  before  the 
great  Chamber  at  Paris,  between  the  merchants  of  Lyons 

and  Marseilles  and  the  Prencb  Jesuits,  in  the  year  1761, 
about  the  immense  losses  in  the  Martinica  trade;  the  court 
demanded,  and  in  a  luckless  hourthe  Jesuits  produced, 
their  secret  constitutions;  thus  falsifying  all  their  former 

statements. 

Bui  it  had  been  long  certain,  that  what  was  now  first 
admitted  was  really  true.  In  the  year  1624  the  Univer- 
sity of  Paris,  charged  this  order  with  being  "governed  by 
private  laws, neither  sanctioned  by  kings,  nor  registered  by 
parliaments;  and  which  they  were  afraid  to  communicate, 
having  done  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  their  being  seen 
by  any  other  than  those  of  the  society."  (Hist,  of  the 
Jesuits,  p.  329  of  vol.  1.)  How  perfectly  does  this  accord 
with  their  own  maxims,  in  their  preface  to  the  present 
work;  let  no  one  who  knows  our  secrets,  be  allowed  to  join 
any  other  order,  except  the  Carthusians  icho  preserve 
strict  retirement  and  perfect  silence;  which  the  See  ok 
Rome  has  confirmed.  So  that  the  allegation  of  the 
unknown  libeller  who  the  Jesuits  would  have  us  believe 
forged  the  Secreta  Monita;  is  confirmed  by  the  direct  de- 
claration of  the  University  of  Paris,  and  placed  past  doubt 
by  the  indirect  confirmation  of  the  pope  himself! 

But  I  will  produce  one  more  witness, — Palafox, 
bishop  of  Angelopolis,  in  his  famous  letter  to  Pope  In- 
nocent X.  dated  Jan.  8,  1649,  writing  of  this  society, 
demands  "what  other  Religion  has  a  secret  constitution, 
hidden  privileges,  and  concealed  laws  of  its  own?  And 
what  other  order  has  all  those  things  which  relate  to  its  gov- 
ernment involved  in  so  much  mystery?  There  is  suspicion 
in  mystery.  The  rules  of  all  other  orders  arc  open  to  all; 
even  the  Rules  and  Canons  of  Popes,  Cardinals,  ]>i  shops, 
and  the  whole  clergy;  the  privileges,  instructions,  and  sta- 
tutes, of  other  religious  orders  may  be  seen  and  consulted 
in  almost  every  library;  and  the  lowest  novice  in  the  Fran- 
ciscan order  may  read  at  one  vieiv,2vhat  /lis  duty  would  be, 
if  he  should    ever  become  the  general  of  his  order.      But 

THE    SUPERIORS   OF  THE    JESUITS   DO   NOT     GOVERN    THEM 
BY    THE   RULES  OF  THE  CHURCH,   WHICH   ARE    KNOWN  TO 


SECRETA   M0NITA    SOCIETATIS  JESU.  311 

ALL,  BUT  BY  CERTAIN  BECBET  RULES.      (Regie*    Calk 
WHICH  ARE  only   KNOWN   TO    THOSE  SI  PERIORS."       (See 

I,  of  the  edition  printed  at  Cologne,  in  1666.) 
\  II.   Such  a  system  can  of  course  be  found  nowhere 
else;  forsuch  another  order,  never  was  established  amor 
men.     Indeed  the  only  real  ground  for  hesitation  is  the 

reluctance  with  which  the  heart  allows  itself  to  credit 
things  of  this  kind.  If  history  weie  less  replete  with 
the  crimes  of  this  atrocious  fraternity,  if  the  irresistible 

evidence  of  the  past  left  us  some  room  to  question  the 
utter  and  horrible  depravity  of  this  order;  there  might  be 
some  room  left,  to  relapse  into  a  grateful  incredulity  of 
such  amazing  sin.  But  there  is  not  "a  single  hook  on 
which  to  hang  a  doubt."  If  every  thing  that  is  imparti- 
al in  history,  can  be  said  to  concur  with  irresistible  light 
and  power  upon  one  single  point;  it  is  that  this  society 
has  been  the  most  perfectly  diabolical  that  ever  was  con- 
ceived. If  there  is  in  the  wide  compass  of  human 
thought,  one  expression,  that  in  every  dialect  used 
amongst  men,  conjures  up  at  once,  all  that  is  wicked, 
fearful  and  degraded;  the  supreme  union  of  sin,  activity 
and  genius;  the  very  essence  of  wThat  is  to  be  hated,  fear- 
ed, and  shunned,  that  expression  is,  a  Jesuit  priest! — 
Whence  this  universal  execration?  Whence  this  uun- 
animous  consent"  of  all  countries  and  ages  against  them! 
The  Infidel,  the  Catholic,  the  Protestant,  and  the  very 
Father  of  the  faithful:  Hume,  De  Thou,  Mosheim,  and 
Gangenelli,  as  specimens  of  all;  Protestant  England,  Ca- 
tholic Venice,  Infidel  France,  Pagan  China,  as  a  com- 
mittee of  the  universe;  why  have  all,  every  where,  de- 
nounced, abhored  Jesuitism^  as  the  sum  of  all  evil! — 
Reader,  examine,  ponder  the  Secreta  Monita,  and  you 
wTill  see  the  solution  of  this  problem:  and  in  that  solution 
you  cannot  but  find  the  fullest  authority  for  asserting  the 
genuineness  and  authenticity  of  the  book  itself. 

Upon  the  whole,  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  on  the  mind 
of  any  candid  man  who  will  examine  the  subject,  that 
the  Secreta  Monita,  is  no  forgery;  that  it  is  no  ingeni- 
ously deduced  system;  but  that  it  is  sustainable  by  proofs 
the  most  conclusive,  in  its  pretensions  to  be  the  real  se- 
cret counsels  of  the  society  of  Jesus ^  profanely  so  called; 


312  SECRETA   MONITA   SOCIETATIS  JESU. 

drawn  up  at  a  very  early  period  of  its  existence;  com- 
bining all  its  experience;  revealing  its  grand  purpose;  and 
constantly  followed  by  its  leading  spirits. 

VIIL  No  reader  of  these  pages  will  imagine,  that  this 

subject  has  been  introduced   into    them    as  a    question  of 
mere  curiosity  or  controversial  learning.      Jesuitism,    le- 
gally introduced  into  the  church  of  Rome,  by  the  bull  of 
Paul  III.,  of  27  Sept.  1540, continued  for  two  hand  red  and 
thirty  Hirer  years,  and   was  then  suppressed  bv  the  bull  of 
Clement  XIV.,  of  2 1  July,  1773.    It  is  stated  on  the  face  of 
the  bull  of  suppression,  that  twelve  popes,  before  Clement 
XIV.  (and  he  carefully  repeats  their  names,)  had  in  their 
day,  been  troubled  with  this  society;  and  had    anxiously 
but  fruitlessly,  endeavored  to  make  it  tolerable;  and  that, 
the  reigning  pontiff — satisfied  that  there  could  be  no  real 
peace  in  the  church,  while  this  society  existed, — and  per- 
suaded, pressed,  by  the  most  powerful  motives,  motives 
even  stronger  than  law,  prudence,  and  good  government 
in  the  universal  church  afford — but  ivhich  he  was  resolved 
to  keep   secret  in  the  bottom  of  his  heart;  *  *  after  the 
most  mature  deliberation,  acting  with  personal  knowl- 
edge, and    by  the   plentitude  of  apostolical  power,  put 
out  and  suppressed  the  society  &c."     Before  this  high 
and  deliberate  act,  performed  by  one  of  the  wisest  and 
best  popes  of  Rome;  nearly  the  whole  Christian   world 
had  preceded  the  condemnation  of  the  successor  of  St, 
Peter,  in  its  cordial,  long  continued,  and  general  abhor- 
rence  of  the  society.     De  Pradt  in  his  Jesuitisme  ancient 
et  modern,   pp.  254-5.    has  collected  into  one  view,  no 
less  than  thirty  six  expulsions  endured   by  the  Jesuites, 
before  their  suppression  in  1773;  ranging  through  a  pe- 
riod (from  1555}  of  two  hundred  and  eighteen  years;  the 
first  expulsion  being  within  fifteen  years  of  the    origin  of 
the  society.   This  is  a  very  strong  proof,  of  the  early  reve- 
lation of  the  Secreta  Monita,  or  what  is    nearly  the 
same,  of  the  horrible  principles  of  the  Jesuits. 

After  a  suppression  of  forty-one  years,  these  miserable 
monks  have  reappeared,  as  it  has  been  well  said,  with  the 
baggage  pf  every  counter  revolution,  and  as  the  ally  of 
every  despotism  amongst  men.  Pius  VII.,  by  his 
bull  of  August  6,  1814,  after  having  as  he  says  uby  fer- 


SECUlliA  MOMTA    SO  CI  El  10.  31  3 

lored  the  dn  i  r  having 

taken    the  a  real  numbei   of   his  1 1  ri(  rabl< 

there,   the  i  ardinals  of  the  hoh  ;  did 

ect  knowledge,  by  Mi- 
ni" apostolic  power,  and  for  perpetuity,"  tl 
Clement  XIV.,  and  all  others  agaij  ,.uld 

be  held   null    and   void;   and   that  the    I 
Jesus,  should  be  fully  and  absolutely   restored.     He  had 

i   in   a  previous  part  of  the  bull,  that  ' 
worhl   denu  nded  with  unanimous    voice  th  dish' 

mentof  the  Company  qf  Jesus."     Thus  fort  iarter 

of  a  eenturv,  these  enemies  of  all  truth  and  righteous- 
Bess,  let  loose  to  harrass  and  ton  hu- 
man  ra« 

It  is  not  pertinent  to  the  present   object,  to    -how  the 
total  overthrow  of  all  the  pretensions  of  R<  nity 

of  doctrine,  of  morals,  of  discipline,  or  even  of  policy  or 
opinion.  The  mere  collation  of  these  two  bulls,  utterly 
subverts  her.  No  two  persons  have  ever  differed  more  fun 
damentallv,  and  that  upon  subjects  involving  every  part 
of  religion  than  these  two  bulls  prove  these  two  popes  to 
have  done:  yea,  and  if  they  are  worthy  of  credit — their 
whole  communion  in  their  respective  ages,  differed  as 
much  as  they  did  themselves. 

The  people  of  America,  have  a  more  direct,  and  per- 
haps a  deeper  interest,  in  knowing  the  Jesuits  and  keep- 
ing them  at  bay,  than  those  of  most  other  states.  From 
the  beginning  0f  the  papal  hierarchy  in  the  U.  S. — the 
most  distinguished  of  their  clergy,  have  been  under  the  in- 
fluence  of  the  Jesuits:  and  there  appears  to  be  no  doubt 
that  this  has  been  the  case  with  all  their  archbishops,  in- 
cluding the  present.  Again,  their  principles,  morals  and 
aims,  are  most  direfully  in  conflict  with  the  whole  state 
of  society  in  our  republic;  and  any  decided  success  on 
their  part,  involves,  not  only  the  public  purity,  but  the 
public  peace.  If  papism,  is* at  all  worthy  of  the  public 
observation, — either  by  reason  of  its  dangerous  character, 
or  its  hateful  practices;  then  assuredly,  Jesuitism,  as  the 
concentrated  and  poisonous  essence  of  papism,  still  more 
urgently  challenges  our  consideration.  And  at  the  first 
21 


314  SECRETA   M0N1TA   SOCIETATIS  JESU. 

step  of  our  enquiries — this  Secreta  Monita,  raee* 
in  the  path. 

IX.   This  article  could  not,  perhaps,  be  concluded  more 
appropriately,    than    by  giving  to  the   reader     a   pre* 
idea  of  this  important  volume. 

It  contains  a  preface,  and  XVII.  chapters;  occupying- 
in  all,  if  the  Latin  and  English  be  both  printed,  about 
88  pages,  18mo. 

The  preface,  contains  III.  sections  :  and  fills  a  page. 
Having  referred  to  its  contents  in  the  body  of  this  article, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  be  more  particular  here. 

Chapter  I.  contains  IX.  sections  ;  and  has  this  title: — 
How  the  Society  ought  to  conduct  itself  when  it  commen- 
ces a  settlement  in  a  new  place. 

Chapter  II.  has  XV.  sections;  title: — By  what  method 
the  Principal  Persons  of  the  Society  may  acquire  and 
preserve  the  familiarity  of  Princes,  Noblemen,  and  per- 
sons of  great  distinction. 

Chapter  III.  has  X.  sections  ;  title: — hi  what  manner 
the  society  must  act  with  those  who  have  great  authority  in 
the  state:  and  how  others,  although  not  rich,  can  neverthe- 
less aid  us  in  various  ways. 

Chapter  IV.  has  VI.  sections;  title: — What  things 
ought  to  be  recommended,  to  preachers  and  confessors  to 
the  great. 

Chapter  V.  has  V.  sections  ;  title: — How  to  act  towards 
religious  orders,  which  perform  the  same  functions  in  the 
church,  which  we  do. 

Chapter  VI.  has  XI.  sections;  title: — Hoio  to  concili- 
ate rich  widows  to  the  society. 

Chapter  VII.  has  XVIII.  sections  ;  title: — How  wid- 
ows are  to  be  retained;  and  how  to  dispose  of  the  goods 
which  they  may  leave. 

Chapter  VIII.  has  IV.  sections  ;  title:  —  What  must  be 
done  that  the  sons  and  daughters  of  widows  may  become 
professed  or  devotees. 

Chapter  JX.  has  XVI.  sections  ;  title: — Of  increasing 
the  revenues  of  our  colleges. 

Chapter  X.  has  III.  sections;  title: — Of  the  secret 
Strictness  of  this  discipline  in  the  society. 

Chapter  XI.  has  \  III.  sections  ;  title: — What  we  should 
all  do  against  those  dismissed  from  the  society. 


SECRETA    MONITA    SOCIETATIS  JESU.  315 

Chapter  XII.  has  V.  sections;  title: — Who  should  be 
cherished  and  favored  in  the  soieety. 

Chapter  XIII.  has  XIII.  sections;  title: — Of  the  se- 
lection of  youths  for  admission  into  the  society,  and  the 
Way  to  retain  them. 

Chapter  XIV.  has  VIII.  sections  ;  title: — Of  reserved 
cases,  and  of  cause  of  dismission  from  the  society. 

Chapter  XV.  has  II.  sections;  title:—  Concerning  the 
treatment  of  nuns  and  devotees. 

Chapter  XVI.  has  III  sections  ;  title: — Of  the  outward 
exhibition  of  a  contempt  of  riches. 

Chapter  XVII.  has  IX.  sections  ;  title: — Of  the  method 
of  advancing  the  interest  of  the  society. 

The  edition  here  referred  to,  is  the  second  American 
edition, —  with  a  new  and  more  literal  translation,  by  the 
writer  of  Uie.be  lines;  Bait.  Edward  J.  Coale  4*  Co.  1835: 
pp.  103.  The  preliminary  discourse  of  that  edition,  con- 
tains the  original  draft  of  a  large  part  of  this  article.  The 
name  of  the  editor  is  on  the  title  page;  and  the  follow- 
ing dedication  in  front  of  the  book.  The  edition  has 
been  several  years  out  of  print.  It  is  nearly  needless  to 
say,  no   public  notice  has  been  taken  of  the  dedication. 


TO 

The  present  ARCHBISHOP  of  BALTIMORE; 

Who  is  said 

By  his  friends,  to  be  a  person  of  talents  and   learning  ; 

And  who  is  believed 

By  many    to  belong  to  the 

ORDER    OF    JESUITS; 

THIS    VOLUME     IS     INSCRIBED: 

Under  the  conviction,  that  his  duty    as  a  Gentleman, 

A   SCHOLAR,    AND  A   CHRISTIAN, 

Requires  him 

To  refute  the  book  if  false; 

or 

To  admit  its  genuineness,  if  it  is  true: 

By  his  obedient  servant, 

THE  EDITOR. 
Baltimore,  July  22,  1835. 


316 


NUMBER    XXXI. 

PAPISM  BEFORE  THE   COURTS  OF  LAW  \  OUB    LEGAL  PER- 
SECUTION, 

David,  in  the  ninth  Psalm  (verses  L5  and  16)  has 
given  us  this  remarkable  evidence,  at  once  of  the  provi- 
dence and  the  justice  of  God, — that  wicked  men  are  com- 
monly the  victims  of  their  own  atrocious  machination-. 
They  dig  a  pit — and  fall  into  it;  they  hide  a  net  ana  their 
own  feet  are  taken  in  it;  they  contrive  a  plot — and  are 
themselves  snared!  It  is  the  judgment  of  the  L<  id,  de- 
clares the  prophet;  and  then  adds  a  double  exclamation, 
of  his  conviction  and  astonishment. 

Is  it  even  so,  that  papism,  after  a  sleepless  watch  of 
five  years,  springs  upon  us  at  last  only  to  demonstrate 
the  depth  and  continuance  of  its  hate,  and  to  be  covered 
with  confusion  in  a  more  public  and  signal  overthrow? 

What  are  we  to  the  keeper  of  an  alms  house?  Noth- 
ing, absolutely  nothing!  And  what  is  he  to  us?  Noth- 
ing, less  than  nothing!  It  is  papism  that  attacks  us;  and 
shunning  investigation,  answers  by  a  prosecution,  what 
nothing  but  argument  and  proof  can  meet. 

We  never  thought  of  Maguire;  we  did  not  even  know 
his  name  a  week  before  the  pretended  libel  on  him  was 
penned;  and  till  this  hour  (March,  1840)  have  never  laid 
our  eyes  upon  him.  The  moment  we  heard  that  he  had 
taken  offence — we  spontaneously,  first  privately,  and  then 
in  the  pages  of  the  Magazine  where  the  supposed  injury 
had  been  inflicted  ;  proffered  every  possible  reparation 
which  justice,  truth,  or  religion  allowed — or  which  an 
honourable  mind  could  ask. 

Having,  however,  inflicted  no  injury — we  failed,  of 
course,  to  make  any  satisfactory  atonement.  Pretended 
injuries  are  too  fatal  to  be  redressed.  We  are  glad  that 
wre  did  make  the  effort,  however;  and  are  thereby  set 
right  in  the  judgment  of  every  candid  man.  Hence- 
forth, the  nature  and  true  source  of  the  prosecution 
against  us  is  obvious  to  all;   and   we  shall  not  hesitate  to 


PAPISM  B  HE  COURTS  OF    LAW,   &C.  317 

lj  we  do  not  doubt  any  jury  before  which  the 
question  is  ever  brought,  will  stamp  with  their  verdict, 
namely,  that  noprival  ,  but  papism  in  general,  and 

the  priests  ol  ular,  an 

of  this  prosecution. 

We  confess  our  responsibility  to  the  laws.  We  an* 
ready  to  meet  it.  We  have  asserted  nothing  thai  is  not 
true;  we  hive  insinuated  nothing  that  is  not  warrai 

We  confidently  rely  that  any  tribunal  before  which  the 
case  may  be  investigated  in  any  aspect  of  it — will  ad- 
judge that  we  have  spoken  truth  only — and  that,   in  a 

timely  and  becoming  manner. 

We  have  said  three  things  in  a  short  article  published 
about  the  alms  house,  in  the  November  No.  (1839)  of 
the  Bilt.  Lit.  and  Relig.  Mag.,  and  re-published  in  that 
for  January  1840.  1.  We  have  said  that  a  mass  altar  was 
erected  in  the  alms  house,  at  the  public  expense.  Now  ob- 
serve: we  expect  to  prove  it,  whenever  lawfully  call- 
ed to  do  so;  ioe  expect  to  prove  more  than  we  have  said. 

2.  We  have  said  that  an  aged  German  was  imprisoned 
in  the  alms  house.  Now  take  notice:  we  expect  to 
prove  it;  we  expect  to  prove,  whenever  put  to  it,  all 
that  we  have  said,  and  so  much  beyond,  and  all  so  indis- 
putably, that  the  wonder  will  be,  how  any  man  ever 
thought  of  seriously  calling  us  to  question  about  the  as- 
sertion! 

3.  We  have  said,  that  the  man  went  to  the  alms  house 
under  the  procurement  of  the  priests, — and  that  he  toas 
shut  up  as  a  madman:  and  that  the  procuring  cause  of  his 
being  sent  there,  was  his  known  desire  to  become  a  Chris- 
tian. Now  remember;  we  expect  to  prove  it;  unless 
papal  witnesses  swear-falsely,  we  expect  to  prove  it  di- 
rectly; and  if  they  do,  we  expect  to  prove  so  many  colla- 
teral facts,  that  all  men  will  admit  they  have  sworn 
falsely. 

With  the  two  first  facts,  the  keeper  of  the  alms  house 
may  no  doubt  suppose,  he  has  a  right  to  concern  himself. 
Very  well;  we  can  only  say  we  are  assured  and  believe 
they  are  true  and  will  be  proved.  But  with  the  third  fact 
we  cannot  see  that  he  has  any  right  to  find  any  fault  what- 
ever; as  not  only  no  offence,  but  even  no  fault  is  imputed 
27* 


318      PAPISM  BEFORE  THE  COURTS  OF  LAW! 

to  him;  except  that  he  believed  a  man  to  be  mad,  who 
was  said  to  be  so,  and  on  that  account  confined  him; 
without  law  it  might  be,  but  without  alledged  crime. — 
The  insinuation  by  us,  if  there  was  any,  was  altogether 
in  favour  of  the  keeper;  and  if,  when  the  case  is  gone 
into,  it  shall  turn  out,  that  we  did  him  more  than  justice 
— he  will  be  pleased  to  remember  how*  it  was  be  got  into 
the  difficulty,  and  forced  us  into  a  more  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  facts  bearing  on  this  part  of  the  case,  than  we 
ever  contemplated. 

That  the  old  German  was  really  a  Papist,  was  really 
inclined  to  become  a  Christian — and  was  in  this  juncture 
sent  to  the  alms  house,  accompanied  there  by  a  violent 
Papist, — there  locked  up  in  the  cells — and  kept  in  them 
under  circumstances  altogether  unusual  and  illegal,  until 
demanded  and  released  by  his  friends;  all  this  we  ex- 
pect to  PROVE. 

It  is,  moreover,  to  be  considered,  that  we  made  these 
statements,  when  first  published,  on  the  authority  of  per- 
sons of  the  utmost  respectability;  that  they  relate  to  the 
very  matter  of  our  profession  in  life,  to  wit,  to  the  salva- 
tion of  the  soul — of  a  poor  sinner,  who  was  seeking  light 
and  pardon,  and  supposed  to  be  violently  interfered  with 
by  others;  that  we  uttered  them  in  the  due  course  of  our 
lawful  and  regular  calling  as  editors  of  a  journal,  long 
and  expressly  devoted  to  the  very  subjects  which  led  to 
the  present  matter;  and  that  the  violent  and  personal  as- 
saults upon  us,  by  the  priests  themselves,  (for  example, 
Mr.  Gildea,)  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  very  jour- 
nal itself.  All  this  is  notorious,  and  can  of  course  be 
fully  proved. 

If  upon  this  case,  a  jury  of  our  country  will  say  we 
have  uttered  what  is  false — and  have  done  so  uialicious- 
ly;  then  indeed,  it  will  be  time  for  the  centinels  on  the 
wrateh-towers  of  truth,  to  tremble.  If  to  give  security  to 
the  machinations  of  foreign  priests,  sent  by  a  foreign  ty- 
rant as  emissaries  into  this  land,  as  yet  free;  the  liberty  of 
the  press  is  to  be  curtailed — the  liberty  of  speech  abridged 
—the  rights  of  conscience  assailed — the  freedom  of  re- 
ligion attacked— the  personal  security  of  the  citizen  di- 
minished-—the  right  of  free  enquiry  denied;  if  papism  is 


OUR  LEGAL  PERSECUTION.  319 

already  strong  enough,  not  only  to  terrify  society,  silem  I 
the  political  press,  invade  the  ballot-box,  and  threaten 

the  pulpit, — but  also  to  infect  tin-  administration  of  jus- 
tice; then  we  have  only  to  say— -papism  could  no  where 
have  sought  in  this  community,  a  more  proper  or  a  more 
willing  victim.  We  love  our  country,  our  race,  our  Mas- 
ter—well  enough  to  suffer  for  either  of  the  three:  how 
much  more,  in  the  cause  of  all  three  united! 

To  show  the  malignity  of  the  persecution  now  set  on 
foot  against  us,  wre  need  only  say,  that  not  only  has  pri- 
vate redress  been  sought,  by  a  suit  at  law  against  us,  for 
pretended  injuries;  butybr  the  same  offence,  a  public  prose- 
cution also,  has  been  most  industriously  and  eagerly  urged 
against  us.  As  yet  the  grand  juries  have  refused  to  pro- 
ceed against  us:  but,  who  can  tell  how  far  the  oaths  and 
accusations  of  bigotted  prosecutors  and  interested  witness- 
es, in  ex  parte  inquisitions,  to  which  we  have  no  access — 
may  finally  carry  even  well-meaning,  but  deluded  men?  It 
is  the  province  of  a  virtuous  and  enlightened  public  senti- 
ment, to  frown  down  such  base  attempts,  and  to  hold  the 
instigators  of  them,  whether  priestly  ox  political,  to  a  just 
accountability. 

In  vindicating  our  character,  our  conduct,  and  the 
truth  committed  to  us — our  friends  may  rest  assured,  that 
we  shall  never  for  a  moment  forget,  that  even  this  perse- 
cution may  by  God^s  blessing  be  the  very  best  possible 
means  of  establishing  important  facts  in  regard  to  the 
odious  character  and  pretensions  of  papism  ;  and  of 
riviting  public  attention  on  them.  A  priest  on  the  wit- 
ness stand,  with  the  fear  of  punishment  for  perjury  be- 
fore his  eyes,  may  be  forced  to  confess  what  he  would 
deny  every  where  else. 

Nor  can  we  forget  that  a  new  aspect  is  given  to  the 
entire  papal  controversy,  by  these  proceedings.  Until 
now,  it  was  in  this  community  a  purely  moral  question. 
Hereafter,  it  is  a  legal  one  also.  We  have  not  chosen  to 
take  this  step  in  advance;  God's  providence  has  forced  us 
to  take  it.  If  it  ends  in  publishing  the  lewdness  of  some 
of  the  pope's  minions — the  drunkenness  of  others,  the  op- 
pressions of  more;  if  it  brings  about  the  suppression  of 
convents  by  lawr;  if  it  fixes  attention  on  the  mode  of  na- 
turalizing the  pope's  subjects;  if  it  leads  to  the  deliver- 


320      PAPISM  BEFORE  THE  COURTS  OF  LAW. 

ari( •{•  of  our  city,  from  the  political  influence  of  papism; 
— if  priests  find  themselves  punished  for  crimes,  hereto- 
fore overlooked; — if  papism  sees  itself  treated  as  a 
public  evil; — let  as  remember,  when  we  behold  the  wicked 
fairly  entangle^  in  their  own  toils,  that,  as  David  hath 
foreshown,  it  is  God's  judgment  that  is  manifest  upon 
them. 

As  to  the  personal  results  of  these  transactions,  we 
ought  to  value  them  at — not  a  rush.  No  being  whose 
opinion  is  more  to  us  than  the  fine  dust  of  the  balance — 
will  be  any  more  assured  of  our  innocence  ;  after  God 
shall,  as  we  humbly  trust,  confound  our  enemies  ;  than 
he  or  she  now  is.  Never,  at  any  period  of  our  lives,  have 
so  many,  so  marked,  and  so  affecting  tokens  of  public 
confidence  and  applause  been  conferred  on  the  author 
of  the  'libel,'  in  the  same  brief  space;  as  since  it  was 
carefully  made  public,  in  his  absence  from  the  city,  that  the 
Papists  had  arraigned  him  as  a  malicious  slanderer.  Who 
believes  them?     Who  will  ever  believe  them? 

The  private  action  against  us,  was  instituted  in  No- 
vember (1839);  yet  up  to  the  middle  of  February  (1840) 
the  period  at  which  wTe  write,  no  declaration  has  been 
filed.  We  have,  by  our  counsel,  again  and  again  asked 
for  it;  but,  three  months,  it  seems,  are  insufficient  for 
able  Protestant  (!!!)  lawyers,  to  determine  on  the  best 
mode  of  torturing  twelve  lines  of  very  plain  English,  so 
as  to  do  the  most  effectual  damage  to  a  Protestant  Clergy- 
man! We  feel  called  on  to  say,  that  the  most  painful 
and  surprising  aspect  of  the  whole  case  is,  that  distin- 
guished Protestant  gentlemen — should,  considering  all  the 
circumstances,  be  found  ready  to  lend  themselves  to  it. 
And  such,  we  venture  to  say,  will  be  the  general  judg- 
ment of  this  Protestant  country.  Could  no  Papist  lawyer 
be  found  fo  harrass  us?  Is  nothing  due  to  the  bonds  of 
a  mutual  faith?  Are  the  Christian  and  Protestant  mem- 
bers of  the  noble  profession  of  the  ProU slant  Coke  and 
the  Christian  Skldkn,  open  to  every  application  to 
worrv  down,  alike,  Protestants,  Christians,  and  ministers 
of  God?  A..d  for  what?  And  for  whom?  Alas!  Alas! 
We  confidently  appeal  to  our  country  for  countenance 
and  support  to  the  Magazine,  with  which  wc  arc  connect- 


OUR  LEGAL  PERSECUTION.  321 

ed — under  the  present  attempt  to  silence  its  free  voice. 
And  we  pledge  ourselves,  by  the  grace  of  God,  to  do  our 
best,  in  time  to  come,  as  in  tim<  for  the  support  of 

true  freedom  and  religion.  Utterly  regardless  of -legal 
jh'im  cution,  as  of  threats  of  assassination;  we  will  frank- 
ly peril  all  we  have  and  are,  in  a  eause  to  which  we  I 
been  called  by  clear  duty;  and  in  which  the  violence  and 
unreasonableness  of  our  enemies,  is  but  additional  evi- 
dence oi'  the  efficacy  of  our  labours,  and  of  our  divine 
vocation  to   them. 


Since  the  foregoing  article  was  in  type — information, 
the  accuracy  of  which  we  have  no  room  to  doubt — has 
readied  us,  that  the  grand  jury,  have  agreed  to  present 
us;  and  before  ;hese  pages  are  issued,  we  shall  be  regu- 
larly arraigned  on  a  criminal  prosecution. 

The  will  of  God  accomplishes  itself  on  us,  and  with 
us,  as  well  as  in  us.  We  shrink  not,  from  aught  to  which 
He  calls. 

If  we  have  been  rightly  informed,  two  preceding  grand 
juries  have  refused  to  do,  wrhat  one  has  at  last  (Feby. 
1840)  been  found  to  perform.  We  will  make  but  twTo  re- 
flections. The  first  is,  that  we  cannot  comprehend  how 
any  candid  man  could  say,  in  view  of  the  naked  case  in 
the  worst  aspect  which  it  could  assume,  that  there  was  the 
slightest  evidence  of  malice  in  our  article:  but  malice  is 
the  very  gist  of  the  pretended  offence!  The  second  is, 
that  God  in  his  providence  having  brought  this  very  grand 
jury,  to  hear,  by  the  oaths  of  unimpeachable  witnesses,  that 
our  statements  were  true, — we  cannot  imagine  how  they 
could  say,  they  believed  them  to  be  false;  but  falsehood 
and  malice  constitute  libel! 

We  refer  the  reader  to  the  article  wThich  follows,  for  the 
next  step?  in  this  persecution  for  righteousness  sake. 


322 


NUMBER    XXXII. 

LETTER  OF  ROBERT  J.  BRECKINRIDGE  TO  THE  SECOND 
PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  OF  BALTIMORE,  ON  THE  OC- 
CASION OF  HIS  PRESENTMENT  BY  THE  GRAM)  J  L  KY  : 
WITH  THE  ACTION  OF  THE  SESSION,  AND  THAT  OF  THE 
CHURCH  THEREON. 

Let  the  following  letter  speak  for  itself. — It  was  read, 
on  the  evening  of  its  date,  publickly,  (by  a  friend)  to  those 
to  whom  it  is  addressed;  and  a  small  edition  of  it  print- 
ed on  an  extra  sheet  for  their  use. 

The  junior  editor  (Revd.  Mr.  Cross)  of  the  Maga- 
zine^ it  is  right  to  say,  is  not  in  reach  of  the  press,  at  the 
present  moment.  It  is,  however,  proper  to  add  that  he 
is  in  no  true  or  proper  sense  responsible  for  the  original 
'libel?  and  is  mixed  up  with  this  particular  question,  in- 
nocently and  only  technically.  He  did  not  write,  print, 
see,  approve,  or  know  of  its  existence,  till  it  was  publish- 
ed. He  would  have  done  all  that  is  right,  if  he  had  been 
called  to  it.  He  would  now  do  more  than  he  ought,  to 
identify  himself  with  this  difficulty.  And  this  explana- 
tion is  made  without  his  knowledge. 

The  writer  of  these  lines,  is  ready  to  share  his  honours, 
his  blessings,  his  enjoyments,  with  all  his  friends.  His 
dangers,  his  reproaches,  his  persecutions,  he  would  not 
willingly  share  with  any  but  his  glorious  Redeemer. 


My  beloved  brethren  and  friends.— The  most  of  you 
know  that  a  civil  suit  was  instituted  against  me,  in  my 
absence  three  months  ago,  by  a  papist  named  Maguire, 
for  an  alleged  libel  on  him  published  in  the  Baltimore 
Literary  and  Religious  Magazine  for  November,  1839;  in 
regard  to  the  confinement  in  the  cells  of  the  alms  house, 
of  an  aged  German  Catholic  who  desired  to  become  a 
Christian. 

As  long  as  the  affair  was  only  a  manifestation  of  pri- 
vate revenge  against  me,  for  defending  personal  liberty 
and  the  rights  of  conscience;   I  did  not  think  it  worth 


LETTER  OF  ROBERT  J.  BRECKINRIDGE,       323 

while  to  trouble  you   about  it;    nor  proper  to  allow  it  to 
have  any  effect  on  the  ordinary  course  of  my  dutit  3. 

But  after  repeated  attempts  on  the  part  of  my  enemies 
and  persecutors,  to  enlist  the  power  of  the  Common- 
wealth against  me  in  a  criminal  prosecution,  additional 
to  the  private  action;  they  have  at  length  succeeded. — 
The  Grand  Jury  for  the  city  of  Baltimore,  after  an  ex  parte 
investigation,  at  the  instance  and  on  the  testimony  of  in- 
terested parties,  have  made  a  presentment,  and  in  the  or- 
dinary course  of  affairs  may  be  expected  soon  to  find  a 
hill  against  me  for  false  and  malicious  libel;  and  a  war- 
rant as  in  the  case  of  a  common  felon,  has  been  issued 
against  me. — I  do  not  complain  either  of  the  injustice  or 
the  indignity;  I  barely  recount  them. 

I  hope  it  is  superfluous  for  me  to  say  to  you,  who  have 
known  me  so  long  and  so  well,  that  in  this  transaction  I 
have  been  actuated  only  by  a  sincere  love  of  truth — an 
earnest  desire  to  promote  justice— and  a  perfect  willing- 
ness to  risk  all,  in  the  cause  of  Christ  and  of  public  lib- 
erty. I  appeal  to  the  whole  current  of  my  life— -I  appeal 
to  the  consciences  of  all  who  know  me— -I  appeal  to  the 
searcher  of  hearts:  and  I  defy  the  malignity  of  all  the  ene- 
mies who  have  so  long,  in  this  city,  sought  my  ruin. 

But  something  is  due  to  public  appearances;  very  much 
to  the  character  of  the  church  I  serve:  most  of  all  to  the 
sacred  office  I  bear.  These  have  demanded  of  me,  aline 
of  conduct  answerable  to  the  new  and  difficult  circum- 
stances in  which,  by  God's  providence,  I  find  myself 
placed;  and  to  which  his  grace  only  can  make  me  equal. 

It  is  hardly  becoming  that  one,  whom  a  grand  jury — 
no  matter  how  prejudiced  or  deluded— publicly  arraigns 
for  malicious  falsehood;  it  is  hardly  proper  that  such  a 
person,  while  he  underlays  such  a  charge,  should  exercise 
the  functions  of  a  minister  of  Christ.  It  is  not  proper 
that  you  should,  in  any  manner,  be  implicated  by  my 
faults,  or  involved  even  in  my  misfortunes,  except  by 
your  own  deliberate  act. 

I  have,  therefore,  the  profound  affliction  of  announcing 
to  you,  that  from  this  moment,  until  a  jury  of  my  country 
shall  pronounce  upon  my  conduct,  or  this  monstrous  pro- 
ceeding be  otherwise  legally  disposed  of.  I  will  lay  aside, 


324       TO  THE  SECOND  PRES.  CHURCH  OF  BALTIMORE; 

absolutely  and  without  reserve,  every  function  of  my  min- 
istry.     I  make  no  exception.    My  purpose  is  complete. 

That  mh;1i  b  necessity  should  exist,  would,  under  all 
possible  circumstances,  61]  my  heart  with  profound  an- 
guish. But  that  it  should  occur  in  the  present  conjunc- 
ture of  our  affairs— full  of  such  deep  and  such  tender  in- 
terest, on  so  many  and  such  impressive  accounts,— rend- 
ers it  one  of  the  greatest  trials  of  my  life.  nest 
request  is,  thai  all  your  efforts  and  exercises—  (and  es] 
cially  your  proposed  thankoffering  to  God,  on  next  Sab- 
bath day,  in  commemoration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  our  church;*  and  the  special 
meetings  of  persons  newly  awakened  to  the  importance  of 
divine  things )— may  proceed  as  if  nothing  had  occurred. 
When  the  under  shepherd  is  removed,  the  Great  Bishop 
of  our  souls  becomes  only  more  immediately  the  shepherd 
of  the  flock. 

If  I  shall  be  acquitted,  then  your  joy  and  mine  will  be 
equal  to  the  triumph  of  truth  and  justice;  equal  to  the 
confusion  of  our  enemies.  If  the  same  terrible  influence 
which  has  thus  far  prevailed  against  me,  shall  still  farther 
be  allowed  by  an  inscrutable  providence,  to.  compass  a 
conviction;  then  it  will  remain  for  you,  by  the  calm  and 


*  It  cannot  be  without  deep  interest  to  the  reader  to  learn,  that  that 
thank-offering,  made  under  such  affecting  circumstances,  and  by  a 
church  not  ranking  in  wealth,  much,  if  at  all,  above  the  average  of  our 
large  churches — was  the  largest  but  two,  reported  out  of  our  fifteen 
hundred  churches,  on  the  occasion  of  our  first  jubilee;  having  amount- 
ed to  about $5500.  Nor  is  it  less  worthy  of  record  and  remembrance; 
that  the  idea  of  stereotyping  the  immortal  Institutes  of  the  great  John 
Calvin,  and  presenting  them  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  was  first  suggested  on  that 
occasion,  in  this  church;  and  the  resolution  taken,  to  apply  as  much  as 
might  be  necessary  of  the  proposed  thank-offering  to  this  work.  These 
are  precious  reminiscences;  they  are  most  affecting  proofs  of  the  spirit 
in  which  the  pioneers  in  the  war  with  Papism  in  the  JMneteenth 
Century  in  the  United  States,  entered  into  it,  and  carried  it  on;  they 
are  enduring  monuments  of  what  it  was,  that  God  so  owned  and  so  bless- 
ed notwithstanding  all  its  own  weakness,  all  the  derision  and  scorn  of 
the  wicked,  and  all  the  blindness,  cowardice,  meanness,  ignorance, 
jealousy,  desertion,  yea  and  betrayal  of  some,  who  ought  to  have  been 
strong  on  the  Lord's  aide.  Yea  it  is  pleasant  to  recall  how  faithful 
some  were,  and  what  spirit  actuated  them,  and  what  monuments  they 
erected,  and  how  God's  smiles  were  with  them;  in  times,  the  like  of 
which,  few  we  trust,  will  ever  see. 


ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  HIS  PRESENTMENT     325 

free  expression  of  your  deliberate  judgment  and  wishes, 
to  decide  the  ultimate  question,  which  in  th  it  case  must 
arise.  I  intend  to  act  towards  you  with  perfect  simpli- 
city; and  will  commit  you  to   nothing  to  which  you  are 

not  willing  to  be  committed. 

In  the  event  of  this  prosecution  being  delayed  by  those 
who  have  instituted  it;  or  if  it  should  on  any  account  not 
be  brought  to  an  early  conclusion;  I  shall  feel  warranted, 
and  if  the  way  is  open,  called  in  providence,  as  a  private 
Christian  and  free  citizen,  to  devote  myself  to  the  public, 
constant,  and  thorough  discussion  of  the  horrible  system 
of  papism;  to  which,  amongst  so  many  other  and  greater 
evils  with  which  it  curses  the  earth,  we  are  indebted  for 
our  present  affliction. 

And  now,  my  very  dear  friends  and  beloved  brethren 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord, —let  us  meet  this  extraordinary 
and  afflicting  stroke,  with  the  faith,  patience,  humility, 
and  prayerfulness,  which  become  our  profession.  And 
let  us  expect  the  result,  whatever  it  may  be,  with  the  tem- 
per of  heart  appertaining  to  those,  who  '"know  that  all 
things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God,  to 
them  icho  are  the  called  according  to  his  purpose." 
With  tenderest  love,  I  am  your  faithful  friend, 
and  unworthy  Pastor, 

Ro.  J.  Breckinridge. 

Baltimore,  FeVy.  19,  1840. 


The  foregoing  letter  was  read  to  the  congregation,  by 
a  friend,  on  Wednesday  evening  the  19th  inst.,  when  the 
people  were  assembled  in  one  of  their  stated  services. 

The  expectation  of  the  author  of  it  was,  that  the  people 
of  his  charge  would  acquiesce  in  his  decision,— and  that 
although  the  course  he  had  thought  it  his  duty  to  take 
would  probably  lead  to  a  general  and  thorough  examina- 
tion of  the  whole  case— which  indeed  he  sincerely  de- 
sired; yet  that  no  decided  or  public  action  would  be  taken, 
until  the  criminal  prosecution  was  brought  1o  a  decision. 

A  different  view  of  the  subject  was  taken  by  the  Ses- 
sion of  the  church;  and  their  spontaneous,  prompt,  and 
decided  action  in  regard  to  it;  and  the  explicit,  unanimous 
and  cordial  approbation  of  their  conduct,  on  the  part  of 
2S 


'326 


BY  THE   GRAND  JURY: 


the  entire  congregation — are   set  forth  in   the  two  docu- 
ments which  follow. 


ACTION  OF  THE  CHURCH  SESSION  ON  THE  FOREGOING 
LETTER. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  elders  of  the  Second  Pres- 
byterian church  of  Baltimore,  held  in  the  lecture  room  on 
Friday  the  2lst  of  February,  1840,  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  into  consideration  the  present  peculiar  state  of  the 
Congregation. 

The  following  members  were  present,  viz: — 

Gen.  W.  McDonald,  Messrs.  James  Beatty, 
Arch'd  George,  Peter  Fenby,  George  Carson, 
John  Wilson,  John  Franciscus. 

In  the  absence  of  the  pastor,  Gen'l  McDonald  was 
called  to  preside  as  moderator,  and  George  Carson, 
the  stated  clerk,  appointed  secretary. 

The  following  preamble  and  resolutions  were  then 
unanimously  adopted: 

Whereas  the  duty  of  supplying  the  pulpit,  devolves 
upon  the  Sesssion,  and  whereas  a  letter  from  the  Rev'd. 
Dr.  Breckinridge,  addressed  to  the  congregation,  was 
read  after  the  weekly  lecture  on  Wednesday  evening  last, 
the  19th  inst.,  by  the  Rev'd  Mr.  Williams,  who  pre- 
sided on  the  occasion,  in  which  it  was  stated,  that  the 
Grand  Jury  for  the  city  of  Baltimore,  had  made  a  pre- 
sentment against  him  for  a  libel,  in  consequence  of  which, 
he  had  come  to  the  determination,  uto  lay  aside  absolute- 
ly and  without  reserve,  every  function  of  his  ministry, 
until  a  Jury  of  his  country  shall  have  pronounced  upon 
his  conduct,"  &c. 

This  communication  could  not  fail  to  fill  the  mind  of 
every  member  of  the  congregation  with  the  deepest  af- 
fliction.— Warmly  attached  as  they  are  to  their  beloved 
pastor,  by  the  strongest  and  tenderest  ties,  they  could  not 
contemplate  the  loss  of  his  faithful  services,  under  such 
painful  circumstances,  but  with  feelings  of  heart-felt  sor- 
row and  dee})  regret. 

The  session,  participating  in  these  feelings  to  their 
fullest  extent — while  they  duly  appreciate  the  delicacy  of 
the  motives  which  prompted  the   decision,  cannot  at  the 


WITH  THE  ACTION  OF   THE    SESSION,  327 

same  time  perceive  any  thing  in  the  present  aspect  of  af- 
fairs, which  requires  such  a  sacrifice.     Their  confidence 

in  the  piety,  purity  and  ability  of  their  pastor  remains 
undiminished  and  unshaken — they  liave  beep  witnesses 
to  his  arduous  and  successful  labours,  in  this  church,  for 
the  last  eight  years,  to  promote  the  glory  of  God,  in  the 
salvation  of  the  souls  of  men — enforcing  the  doctrines 
which  he  taught  by  the  example  of  a  holy  life; — and  they 
feel  pleasure  in  bearing  their  further  testimony — that 
whenever  he  considered  it  to  be  his  duty  to  caution  his 
hearers  against  fatal  errors,  he  at  the  same  time  uniform- 
ly and  constantly  inculcated  the  Christian  duty  of  exer- 
cising love  to  the  persons,  and  charity  to  the  opinions 
of  those  who  differed  from  them  in  doctrine  and  in 
practice — always  deprecating  the  idea  of  this  difference 
interrupting  the  charities  of  social  intercourse;  and  against 
no  errors  has  he  been  more  pointed  in  his  remarks,  than 
against  those  wThich  had  crept  into  the  Presbyterian 
church,  and  wThich  ultimately  led  to  its  separation. 

The  session  having  met  on  the  present  emergency,  and 
entertaining  these  views,  have,  after  mature  deliberation, 
and  they  trust  in  the  fear  of  God,  come  to  the  conclusion, 
that  it  is  their  duty  in  the  first  instance,  to  give  the  congre- 
gation an  opportunity  of  expressing  their  desires  on  the  oc- 
casion; and  that  in  order  to  this,  the  proceedings  of  this 
meeting  be  read  in  the  church,  after  the  service,  on  next 
Sunday  morning;  and  should  their  opinion  coincide  with 
that  of  the  session,  of  which  not  a  doubt  is  entertained, 
then,  in  the  next  place,  that  our  pastor  be  respectfully  re- 
quested to  reconsider  his  decision,  and  resume  his  usual 
labours  in  the  congregation. 

The  Session  cannot  but  hope  that  such  an  expression 
will  enable  him,  not  only  to  see  his  way  clear,  but  that 
he  will  also  consider  it  to  be  his  duty  to  return  immediate- 
ly to  his  charge. 

Be  it  therefore  Resolved,  That  the  confidence  in,  and 
respect  for,  their  pastor,  on  the  part  of  this  session,  re- 
main undiminished,  and  that  it  would  be  highly  gratify- 
ing to  them,  if  he  would  return  forthwith  to  his  ministe- 
rial labours,  which  have  been  so  greatly  blest  in  this  con- 
gregation. 


328      AND  THAT  OF  THE  CHURCH  THEREON. 

Resolved,  That  the   moderator  and  clerk  be  requested 
to  sign  these  proceedings  in  behalf  of  this  meeting. 

Signed  Wm.  McDonald,  Moderator. 

George  Carson,  Clerk  of  Session. 


action  of  the  congregation  on  the  same. 

Sunday,  Feb'y  23d,  1840— Rev'd  Mr.  Williams 
officiated  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  church,  this  forenoon, 
and  after  the  exercises  of  prayer,  singing,  and  reading  a 
portion  of  Scripture;  he  read  the  Rev'd  Dr.  Breckin- 
ridge's letter,  addressed  to  the  congregation,  after  which 
he  stated  that  the  Session  had  a  communication  to  make, 
and  requested  the  audience  to  keep  their  seats  and  hear  it. 

The  elders  then  assembled,  and  stood  up  in  front  of  the 
pulpit — Gen'l  McDonald  acting  as  moderator,  called 
upon  John  Wilson  to  read  the  proceedings  of  the  meet- 
ing of  Session  of  the  21st  inst. — which  he  did. 

After  which  the  moderator  briefly  addressed  the  audi- 
ence, and  at  the  close  of  his  remarks,  he  clearly  and  dis- 
tinctly requested  all  those  who  approved  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Session  which  had  just  been  read,  and  who 
were  desirous  that  our  pastor  should  forthwith  resume  his 
ministerial  labours  in  this  church,  would  rise  vp. 

Instantly,  the  whole  congregation,  which  was  a  very 
large  and  crowded  one,  stood  up — and  remained  en  their 
feet  until  the  moderator  requested  them  to  be  seated. 

He  then  reversed  the  question,  and  requested  all  those 
who  disapproved  of  the  measures  of  the  Session,  and 
who  were  unwilling  that  Dr.  Breckinridge  should  re- 
turn to  his  ministerial  labours  should  rise. 

Not  a  single  individual  stood  up. 

The  moderatorthen  proclaimed  with  emotion — "Thank 
God  there  is  not  one!  The  people,  old  and  young,  male 
and  female,  are  as  unanimous  as  their  Session,  in  desiring 
their  beloved  pastor's  return." 

Mr.  Kyle  made  a  short  address,  approving  of  what  had 
been  done  by  the  Session,   and   also  approving  of  the 
course  pursued  by  the  pastor- 
After  which  the  meeting  was  closed  with  an  appropri- 
ate prayer  by  the  Rev'd.  Mr.  Williams. 

Attest,  Wm.  McDonald,  Moderator. 

John  Wilson,  Clerk  of  Congregation,  pro  tern. 


LE  TThK  OF  &OBEETJ.  BAECKENRIOGE     329 

We  think  it  is  proper  t  \  remade,  that  aal  a  single  mem- 
ber of  the  Session  oi'  the  church  was  brought  into  office 

since  the  connexion  of  the  pastor  with  it;  that  all  ofthem 

were  not  only  Ruling  Elders,  but  for  many  years  leading 
members  of  this  congregation,  before  their  present  pas- 
tor was  a  minister  of  the  gospel;  and  that  most  of  them 
have  been  principal  supporters  of  this  church,  since  its 
foundation,  in  the  year  1803.  This  is  their  position  in 
the  house  of  God.  What  it  is  in  the  world — it  would  be 
impertinent  for  us  to  state — if  these  lines  were  to  be  read 
only  in  this  city  and  commonwealth.  13ut  the  hundreds 
who  may  read  them  in  the  remotest  sections  of  the  Union, 
and  even  in  other  lands;  may  not  know — that  these  are  men 
of  the  first  influence  and  rank  amongst  us,  in  all  that 
makes  either  influence  or  rank,  valuable  to  generous  and 
virtuous  minds;  that  they  are  amongst  the  fathers  of  our 
city;  most  of  them  remnants  of  a  past  and  glorious  age; 
men  who  through  a  period  longer  than  the  life  of  him 
over  whose  head  they  throw  the  shield  of  their  spotless 
names— have  built  up  in  the  face  of  ten  thousand  vicis- 
situdes, characters  which  defy  malignity,  and  challenge 
confidence  and  love.  Oppression  itself  is  sweet  when 
such  tokens  follow  in   its  train. 

And  what  shall  we  say  to  that  other  and  most  affect- 
ing manifestation?  Alas!  alas!  who  is  worthy  of  such 
regards?  Who  is  not  overwhelmed  by  them?  In  the 
midst  of  trials  and  persecution,  here  is  the  unanimous, 
unsolicited,  enthusiastic  testimony,  of  a  thousand  hearts 
and  voices;  not  only  bearing  a  testimony  even  more  noble 
in  those  who  give,  thai]  honorable  to  any  who  might  re- 
ceive it;  but  so  doing  it,  as  by  its  very  tenderness  to 
break  our  heart.  These  are  the  fathers  and  mothers  of 
our  Zion,  by  the  side  of  whose  tottering  steps  we  have 
walked  with  filial  reverence,  not  to  give  but  to  get  instruc- 
tion; these  are  the  children  of  God  brought  from  dark- 
ness into  his  marvellous  light,  by  his  own  blessing  on  our 
poor  labours  ;  these  are  our  friends,  and  companions,  and 
fellow  workmen,  who  for  long  years  have  seen  our  daily 
walk,  partaken  of  our  daily  trials,  helped  our  daily  weak- 
nesses; these  are  the  children  whom  we  have  baptized  into 
Christ's  visible  kingdom;  these  the  families  we  have 
28* 


330    TO  THE  SECOND  PRES.  CHURCH  OF  BALTIMORE ,&C. 

united  in  sacred  wedlock;  these  the  bereaved  and  broken- 
hearted with  whom  we  have  sat  us  down  to  weep;  these 
the  favoured  of  the  Lord,  in  whose  blessings  we  have  re- 
joiced!— Here  be  they  all;  and  here  their  testimony! — 
Precious  token  of  the  smiles  of  heaven!  Sacred  lesson 
to  the  ministers  of  Christ! 

It  is  hard  to  speak  aright  on  such  an  occasion.  Per- 
haps we  have  already  said  too  much.  We  have  said  it  all 
with  our  eyes  full  of  tears.  The  spirit  which  God,  (bless- 
ed be  his  name,)  has  created  incapable  of  apprehension 
from  any  being  but  himself;  is  weak  before  the  voice  of 
unmerited  commendation.  We  dare  not,  like  Paul, 
glory  in  our  infirmities;  but  we  dare  confess  them,  even 
to  our  enemies.  And  we  say  to  them  all,  without  a  par- 
ticle of  bitterness  in  our  hearts— these  things  have  repaid 
us,  ten  thousand  times  over,  for  all  their  hatred  and  in- 
justice; for  all  they  have  done,  in  times  past— for  all  they 
can  do  in  time  to  come. 

We  are  sensible,  and  we  deem  it  proper  to  make  the 
remark  here  and  under  present  circumstances— that  our 
humble  but  sincere  efforts  to  be  faithful  in  our  lot,  have  se- 
cured to  us  alike  the  persecution  of  our  enemies,  and  the 
affectionate  commendation  of  our  friends.  We  desire 
both  to  remember  this  observation;  if  in  the  good  provi- 
dence of  God  peradventure  some  who  now  hate  us  may 
yet  love  us  for  our  work's  sake;  and  some  who  now  love 
us,  may  unhappily  be  offended  by  that  same  fidelity.  We 
have  not  known  any  thing,— we  do  not  intend  to  know 
any  thing  in  this  city,  but  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified. 
Where  he  leads  us,  we  shall  follow;  what  he  bids  us  do, 
we  shall  attempt;  every  man  who  is  his  friend,  we  will 
love;  every  enemy  of  his  we  will  resist.  By  his  grace 
we  have  taken  him  for  our  portion;  and  his  grace  en- 
abling us,  we  shall  profit  by  what  we  consider  at  once, 
the  proof  and  the    recompence  of  our  fidelity  in  our  lot. 


331 


NUMBER  XXXIII. 

THE   STATE   OF  MARYLAND    Clgahist  ROBERT.   J.    BRECKIN- 
RIDGE.* 

I.  u  How  gloriously  does  the  spirit  of  the  age  shine 
forlh  in  this  prosecution"  said  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished men  now  alive,  in  writing  to  us  of  the  attrocious 
proceedings  against  us;  from   which;  by  God's  blessing, 


*This  prosecution  commenced  on  Tuedsay,  March  10,  1840,  before 
the  Honorable  Judges  Nicholas  Brice,  Alexander  Nisbet,  and 
W.  D.  G.  Worthington.  It  was  conducted  by  George  R.  Rich- 
ardson, E3q'r,  Deputy  attorney  general,  for  the  State  of  Maryland; 
assisted  by  Mr.  Charles  Pitts  (hired,  we  presume,  by  Maguire, 
the  prosecutor).  The  defence  was  managed  by  Wm.  Schley,  Esq'r; 
assisted  by  the  Hon'ble  J.J.  Crittenden,  of  Ky  ;  with  whom  also 
attended  throughout  the  trial  thcHoN'BLE  Wm.  C.  Preston,  of  S.  C, 
as  the  personal  friend  of  the  traverser.  The  trial  was  continued  from 
day  to  day,  (excepting  one  Sabbath,  which  intervened,) — till  Saturday, 
March  21.  The  case  was  given  to  the  jury  on  the  afternoon  of  Wednes- 
day, March  18;  ten  of  them  being  ready  to  acquit  in  the  box.  One 
juryman,  countenanced  by  the  doubts  of  a  second — hung  the  panel  till 
the  afternoon  of  the  J  9;  when  the  Court,  on  its  own  motion  discharged 
the  jury.  The  next  day,  the  traverser  came  into  court  and  by  his  coun- 
sel declared  himself  ready  for  trial,  and  demanded  to  be  tried  again,  or 
dismissed  of  the  indictment.  The  Attorney  General  took  time,  till  next 
day;  and  then  on  the  21st,  entered  a  nolle  prosequi;  which  terminated 
the  case.  A  full  report  of  the  trial,  with  the  testimony,  speeches  of 
counsel.  &c. ;  and  also  illustrated  by  a  hundred  notes,  by  the  traverser; 
occupies  the  May  and  June  numbers,  for  1840,  of  the  Bait.  Lit.  and 
Rel.  Mag.;  and  covers  108  large,  closely  printed  pages.  Popery  hat 
seldom  been  more  completely  taken  in  her  own  toils,  than  by  the  progress 
and  result  of  this  prosecution  :  a  prosecution  based  on  nothing  but  her 
malignity  and  hate;  set  on  foot  by  men  far  more  deserving  to  be  brought 
to  public  justice  themselves,  than  to  be  instruments  of  vindicating  laws 
which  were  never  violated;  countenanced  by  the  grand  jury,  by  a  barely 
sufficient  number  to  present, — and  that  a  grand  jury  of  which  all  that  was 
most  respectable  on  it  was  opposed  to  presentment,  and  all  that  was  Pa- 
pist, infidel,  and  heretic  on  it,  hot  for  presentment;  prosecuted  by  a  man 
of  whom  it  is  enough  to  say,  there  could  not  have  been  a  more  fit  person 
for  the  office  he  instinctively  selected;  received  with  execration  by  the 
better  portions  of  society,  and  reaping  public  exposure,  and  the  settled 
abhorrence  of  good  men,  as  the  just  reward  of  its  contrivers.  This  is  the 
real  history  and  termination  of  the  matter.  It  forms  a  signal  era  in  the 
papal  controversy  in  America;  and  will  extend  its  influence  as  far  beyond 
the  expectations,  as  that  influence  will  be  contrary  to  the  hopes,  of  the 
enemies  of  God. 


232  THE    STATE   OF   MARYLAND 

we  are  at  length  delivered.  "It  is  no  longer  a  gun- 
powder plot;   it  is  a  legal  one." 

The  same  gracious  hand  that  delivered  our  ancestors 
— has  effectually  protected  us;  and  that  which  was  dearer 
to  us  than  life,  our  good  name, — has  passed  the  ordeal 
of  popish  malice  and  persecution  —  unharmed,  untouched. 
More  fortunate  than  the  heroic  McGavin, — more  so  even 
than  the  intrepid  Rice,  we  have  thus  far  by  God's  mercy, 
been  enabled  to  escape  even  the  appearance  of  condem- 
nation. 

After  a  prosecution  unprecedented  for  duration,  fierce- 
ness, and  ability,  the  result  is,  that  our  conduct  finds  no 
tribunal,  no  authority  that  condemns  it.  Our  church 
unanimously  and  most  cordially  approves  it;  our  sister 
churches,  manifest  the  most  profound  sympathy  with  us; 
our  wThole  Protestant  community  cordially  acquits  us  ; 
our  jury  is  ten  to  tivo  for  a  triumphant  verdict  to  be  ren- 
dered in  the  box;  and  the  state  itself,  by  its  attorney 
general,  declines,  after  mature  reflection,  a  farther  pros- 
ecution, as  not  being  called  for  by  public  justice.  The 
case  is  ended---in  our  complete  exculpation. 

Then  we  are  not  libellers.  Our  friends,  our  brethren, 
our  fellow-citizens,  our  country,  all  declare  it;  we  are  not 
libellers.  We  have  not  published  a  false  and  malicious 
libel  on  James  L.  Maguire;  but  we  have  published  that 
which  we  had  good  reason  to  believe  was  true — which  it 
was  proper  and  timely  to  publish,  and  which,  under  the 
utmost  possible  disadvantages,  the  proof  came  so  near 
establishing  to  be  true,  that  ten  jurymen  out  of  twelve, 
were  ready  to  render  a  verdict  in  the  box! 

It  is  our  purpose  to  print  the  trial  at  large,  in  the  next 
Nos.  [May  and  June,  '40)  of  our  Magazine;  and  to  ac- 
company it  with  such  notes  and  annotations,  as  may  seem 
necessary.  Meantime  we  throw  together  a  few  statements 
of  a  general  kind,  which  will  probably  interest  our  readers, 
and  give  them  a  clear  view  of  the  subject. 

II.  The  substance  of  the  proof,  for  the  Prosecution, 
was  that  we  had  published  the  paragraph  about  the  alms 
house,  the  aged  German,  &c.  (see  it  in  our  No.  for  No- 
vember, 1839,  and  in  that  for  January,  1840);  that  Ma- 
guire wras  overseer  of  the  alms  house  then  and  now;  that 


AGAINST  ROBERT  J.   BRECKENRIDGE.  333 

he  treated  ministers  of  all  sects  of  Christians,  who  came 
to  the  alms  house,  with  much  courtesy— some  of  them, 
especially  the  Methodists,  with  distinguished  kindness; 
that  he  carried  out  the  arrangements  in  regard  to  the  re- 
ligious instruction  of  the  place,  pretty  much  as  he  found 
them,  when  he  came  into  office  a  year  and  a  half  before: 
that  persons  were  accasionally,  and  under  extraordinary 
circumstances,  taken  into  the  house  and  released  from  it, 
in  a  manner  contrary  to  law  and  to  the  established  orders 
of  the  trustees  of  the  poor;  that  old  Mathias  Staser  (the 
man  in  question)— was  brought  there  by  a  certain  Tom 
Collins,  and  after  one  refusal,  was  at  length  let  in  and 
kept  about  two  days,  being  supposed  to  be  mad;  that  he 
was  permitted  to  depart  when  his  friends  came  for  him, 
and  paid  his  expenses;  and  that  while  there  he  made  no 
objection  to  being  locked  up. 

For  the  Defence,  the  substance  of  the  proof  was;  that 
Mr.  B.  was  distinctly  informed  by  four  different  persons 
all  of  them  respectable  men,  that  all  he  had  published 
was  true;  and  then  when  the  original  author  of  the  state- 
ments to  Mr.  B.'s  informants,  was  induced  to  contradict 
on  oath,  what  he  had  said  to  them;  two  additional  wit- 
nesses swore  he  had  also  told  them  what  he  now  denied. 
It  was  further  proved  that  Mathias  Staser  was  a  Papist, 
that  he  became  anxious  about  his  soul,  and  sought  Pro- 
testant instruction;  that  when  the  Rev.  Daniel  McJilton, 
a  Methodist  preacher,  went  to  his  house  to  converse  and 
pray  with  him,  he  (Staser)  expressed  great  fear  least  his 
Papist  neighbour  and  landlord,  Tom  Collins,  should  over- 
hear them,  and  begged  McJilton  to  nray  low;  that  Staser 
himself  became  so  excited  at  prayer  that  he  made  much 
noise;  that  McJilton  went  back  by  appointment,  within 
two  days,  to  see  Staser,  and  found  him  gone,  his  house 
shut,  and  his  family  broken  up;  that  he  hunted  for  him  in 
vain,  and  amongst  other  places  sought  for  him  at  the 
house  of  a  Papist,  where  his  ( Staser'* s)  children  were, 
and  was  rudely  repulsed;  and  that  some  six  weeks  after- 
wards he  found  that  Staser  was  living  six  miles  in  the 
country.  It  was  then  proved  that  the  same  day,  or  the 
day  following  McJilton's  first  visit  to  Staser,  Tom  Col- 
lins the  Papist,  took  Staser  to  the  alms  house,  which  is  out 


334  THE   STATE  OF  MARYLAND 

of  town;  that  Staser  was,  after  some  hesitation,  received, 
taken  to  a  cell,  locked  up,  and  kept  in  it  about  two  days; 
that  Tom  Collins  did  not  tell  Staser's  family  what  had 
become  of  him,  though  they   were  his  tenants  and  lived 
next  door  to  him;  but  his  little  daughter  found  it  out  from 
others;  that  Staser's  whole  family  consisting  of  his  jour- 
neyman, his  housekeeper,   and  his   two  little  daughters, 
went  in  a  body  to  the  alms  house,  found  the  old  man  in  a 
cell,  paid  the  money  demanded,  and  took  him   out;  and 
that  Staser  was  in  the  cells  of  the  alms  house,  at  the  mo- 
ment of  McJiltons  second  visit  to  his  house.     It  was  also 
proved  that  the  laws  of  the  state  forbade  the  reception  of 
Staser  in  the  alms  house,  if  he  was  sane,  without  a  writ- 
ten order,  which  he  never  had;  or  if  he  was  insane,  with- 
out the  finding  of  a  jury  on  the  fact,  which  never  was 
had;  that  Staser  was  no  pauper,  and  that  his  family  and 
business  were  broken  up,  in  this  general  operation.     It 
was  still  further  proved,  that  never,  before  Maguire  was 
appointed  overseer — had  there  been  any  mass  altar  at  the 
alms  house;   that  Maguire  was  a  Papist;  that  he  had,  at 
the  request  of  Priest  Butler  who  was  at  that  time  private 
secretary  of  archbishop  Eccleston,    sometime   before 
November,  1839,  made  arrangements  and  fixed  a   room 
at  the  alms  house  for  saying  mass;  that  this  was  done  at 
the  public  expense,  and  without  authority  from  the  trus- 
tees of  the  poor;  that  since  then,  priest  Butler,  had  re- 
moved out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court,  viz.,  to  Ohio; 
but  that,  in  point  of  fact,  no  mass  had  been  said;  our  at- 
tack upon  these    arrangements  having  appeared,  it  will 
be  remembered,  in  November.     It  was  also  proved,  that 
some  member  of  the  grand  jury  had  privately  told  Ma- 
guire that  there  would  no  bill  be  found  against  Messrs. 
B.  and  C;  whereupon  Maguire  went  to  another  member 
of  that  grand  jury  and  threatened  him  and   them;   and 
amongst  other  threats  that  he  would  publish  them,  if  they 
did  not  find  said  bill;  and  afterwards  the  bill  was  found. 

We  write  from  memory,  and  omit  all  that  does  not 
seem  to  us  material  in  the  case;  and  it  is  possible  some 
things,  in  themselves  important,  may  have  escaped  us, — 
But  the  foregoing  is  the  substance  of  the  proof — except 
only  that  the  witnesses  from  whom  we  got  our  informa- 


AGAINST  ROBERT  J.  BRECKINRIDGE.  335 

lion  went  to  the  full  extent  of  all  the  statements  of  our 
libel,  embracing  those  points  not  bt-OUgbt  out  in  the  cause. 

We  Unheal  the  expression  of  any  emotions  which 
blight  naturally  be  supposed  to  arise  in  our  minds,  at  the 
fact  that  any  grand  jury  should  find  a  hill  under  this  gen- 
eral state  of  fact — which  we  have  reason  to  know,  was 
before  the  one  which  did  find  the  bill  in  question;  above 
all,  that  the  bill  was  found,  under  threats,  after  being  re- 
jected on  the  proof;  an  outrage  unprecedented  in  our  cri- 
minal jurisprudence.  We  will  repress  also  any  reflections, 
on  the  extraordinary  bitterness  of  the  prosecution,  on  such 
a  state  of  proof;  professing  at  the  same  time,  our  utter  in- 
ability to  see  how  the  temper  of  the  prosecution,  and  the 
final  determination  to  prosecute  no  further,  are  to  be  re- 
conciled with  each  other;  not  complaining,  however,  of 
the  latter,  but  of  the  former.  And  we  say  nothing  of  that 
state  of  mind  which  could  have  induced  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  jurymen  to  hold  out  obstinately  for  a  conviction 
in  such  a  case,  on  such  proof;  hoping  that  all  has  been 
fair,  conscientious,  and  upright.  But  we  do  sincerely 
think  we  are  authorized  on  a  full  view7  of  the  whole  case 
to  say,  that  it  has  been  a  most  gross  and  outrageous  pro- 
ceeding, from  beginning  to  end.  And  that  ninety-nine 
out  of  every  hundred  candid  men  who  examine  it,  will 
say  so  too — we  feel  perfectly  assured. 

There  is  still  depending  a  private  suit  against  us  for 
slander,  for  the  same  paragraph;  and  we  are  therefore  not 
free  to  make  explanations  and  disclosures,  which  might 
impair  our  defence  in  that  case.  But  when  all  these  mat- 
ters are  over,  we  may  showT,  that  strong  as  our  proof  was, 
it  would  have  been  far  clearer  and  stronger,  if  the  osten- 
sible parties  to  the  case,  had  been  the  only  real  parties. 
We  make  no  charges  now  against  any  one;  but  every 
body  knows  that  every  real  papist  in  Baltimore,  even 
those  most  distinguished  by  rank,  fortune,  station  and 
character,  have  considered  this  case,  as  essentially  the 
cause  of  papism;  r.nd  every  body  can  imagine  to  what  re- 
sults such  a  feeling  in  such  a  case,  wTould  be  likely  to 
lead. 

III.  The  intention  of  this  prosecution  was  to  crush 
us.     We  do  not  mean  to  say  this  was  the  intention  of 


336  THE   STATE  OF  MARYLAND 

the  prosecuting  attorney;   we  hope  he  was  actuated  by  a 

sense  of  public   duty,   naturally,   perhaps,  mingled  with 

'professional  pride,  under  the  circumstances;  though  we 

confess  we  thought  he  dealt  harshly  and  unfairly  by  us  in 
many  respects,  of  which  we  may  say  something  in  com- 
menting on  the  case.  Nor  do  we  mean  to  charge  such 
an  intention  on  his  assistant  council,  who  whether  a  vol- 
unteer or  a  hired  prosecutor,  was,  we  dare  say,  thinking 
far  more  of  getting  himself  into  Congress,  than  of  get- 
ting us  into  jail;  and  who  was,  no  doubt,  taking  counsel 
rather  of  his  vanity  than  of  malice,  when  he  boasted,  that 
on  such  a  case  he  could  convict  us,  even  before  any 
Presbyterian  jury  in  the  city.  But  that  such  was  the 
intention  of  those  who  instigated,  and  those  who  urged, 
and  those  who  rejoiced  in  this  prosecution;  no  one  can 
doubt. 

The  result  has  been  as  different,  as  could  well  be  im- 
agined. Hundreds  are  our  firm  friends  to-day,  who  were 
wholly  indifferent  to  us  before.  Thousands  are  deeply 
excited  at  the  audacious  encroachments  of  papism,  who 
were  before  entirely  indifferent  to  the  whole  subject.  Pro- 
testants are  united,  wTho  felt  little  in  common  ;  ministers 
are  aroused,  who  wTere  passive  ;  presses  are  open  that 
were  shut,  and  some  are  shut  that  were  open  only  to 
papism  ;  and  the  long,  heavy,  dead  spell  is  broken — to 
return  no  more  upon  this  community.  We  give  a  single 
fact ; — a  series  of  lectures  on  papism  was  commenced  by 
us,  on  the  sabbath  night  after  the  commencement  of  our 
prosecution,  and  continued  weekly  for  three  months;  and 
by  the  most  moderate  computation,  above  two  thousand 
persons  have  been  present,  crammed  into  the  immense 
church,  as  the  average  attendance  on  them  ;  listening 
with  patient,  yea,  intense  interest  for  an  hour  and  a  half 
or  two  hours  each  evening,  to  simple  and  unpretending 
statements,  reasonings,  and  expositions  on  this  tremend- 
ous subject;  crowding  into  the  church  before  sun-set; 
and  more  going  off  unable  to  get  into  the  house,  than 
those  who  were  ordinarily  stowed,  rather  than  accommo- 
dated, in  it. 

We  have  foreseen,  we  have  predicted,  a  complete  rev- 
olution in  public  sentiment  in  this  community.      The  first 


AGAINST  ROBERT  J.   BRECKINRIDGE.  337 

strong  manifestation  of  it,  was  the  state  of  public  feeling 
exhibited  last  summer  (1839)  in  the  case  of  the  poor 
Carmelite,  whose  unhappy  fate  is  well  known  to  our 
readers.  We  have  now  the  second  stage  of  the  subject, 
produced  by  a  prosecution  against  us,  for  vindicating  the 
cause  of  a  poor  and  unknown  foreigner.  Is  it  not  very 
odd  that  a  city  of  a  hundred  thousand  souls  should  be 
moved  to  its  foundations,  by  the  misfortunes  of  two 
insane  persons  ?  A  mud  nun,  and  a  mad  German  pauper, 
— the  causes  of  a  tremendous  moral  revolution  !  They 
who  reason  thus  are  themselves  mad.  These  are  not 
causes;  they  are  occasions  only.  And  it  is  well  for  the 
peace  of  society  that  the  immediate  occasions  are,  in 
themselves,  comparatively  of  so  small  importance.  For 
if  the  force  of  the  immediate  impulse,  were  always  equal 
to  the  power  of  those  gigantic  sentiments  which  lavish 
themselves  upon  society  ;  it  could  not  endure  the  shock 
of  any  strong  emotion  that  might  burst  upon  it. 

And  yet  there  is  a  grandeur,  as  well  as  an  instinct  of 
truth  in  the  very  fact,  that  so  small  apparent  interests  can 
move  society  so  deeply.  The  cause  of  the  poor  and  the 
unfortunate,  the  stranger,  the  helpless,  and  the  oppressed, 
is  essentially  the  cause  of  the  human  race;  for  these,  as 
man  exists,  constitute  the  bulk  of  the  best  ordered  states; 
and  their  cries  and  wrongs,  are  the  ordinary  voice  which 
enters  into  hearts  attentive  to  the  realities  of  earth.  All 
besides,  is  the  exception  and  the  accident :  this  is  the 
absolute  reality  of  human  existence.  And,  for  our  part, 
whether  it  be  as  a  man,  a  patriot,  a  philanthropist,  or  a 
Christian,  we  take  our  stand  by  the  side  and  for  the  cause 
of  the  poor  and  the  suffering ;  and  are  ready  to  do  and  to 
endure  ten  thousand  times  more,  for  the  tears  of  those 
who  have  none  to  help  them,  than  for  all  they  could  give, 
who  have  every  thing  to  bestow.  When  the  prayers  of 
the  poor  have  gone  up  for  us,  and  the  thanksgiving  of 
the  oppressed  has  reached  our  ears;  then  have  our  hearts 
felt  strong  in  the  Lord,  and  our  spirits  been  refreshed  as 
with  the  dews  of  heaven.  And  never,  more  than  in  the 
scenes  through  which  we  have  but  now  passed,  have  we 
felt  the  power  of  these  truths.  One  stream  of  reiterated 
wrongs,  of  burning  complaints,  of  ardent  expressions  of 
29 


338  THE    STATE   OF  MARYLAND 

hope  and  sympathy  and  praise,  of  unrequited  injuries; 
has  followed  our  footsteps  and  been  poured  upon  our 
way,  from  the  moment  the  nature  of  out  offence  and  trial, 
reached  the  mass  of  our  population.  And  if  the  hun- 
dredth part  of  what  is  told  us  be  true — our  only  shame 
is,  of  having  said  and  done  so  little  to  deserve  to  be  call- 
ed libeller! 

IV.  If  our  voice  could  reach  the  ears  of  those  who 
have  the  control — whether  direct  or  ultimate, — of  the 
public  charities  in  our  midst;  we  might  make  statements, 
and  urge  considerations,  which  ought  not  to  fall  unheed- 
ed to  the  ground.  And  our  hope  is,  that  the  recent  at- 
tempt to  silence  all  enquiry  into  the  mode  of  using  one  of 
these  establishments — will  turn  public  attention  fixedly  to 
them  all;  and  lead,  perhaps,  to  various  reforms  which  are 
demanded  alike  by  considerations  of  benevolence  to  in- 
dividuals, and  of  a  proper  respect  of  the  community  for 
itself. 

It  was  urged  with  great  vehemence  against  us,  on  our 
trial,  that  we  had  been  guilty  of  a  libel  on  the  overseer  of 
the  alms  house,  because  by  saying  that  it  had  been  con- 
verted into  a  mass  house,  we  must  be  understood  to  mean, 
that  it  was  a  place  where  no  other  than  the  papal  religion 
was  publicly  celebrated;  and  that  pr^of  that  other  sects 
were  allowed  to  worship  in  the  place,  must  be  taken  as 
positive  evidence  that  the  place  was  not  a  mass  house; 
and  that  by  consequence  our  statement  was  false,— and 
if  false,  the  law  would  imply  malice.  An  argument  so 
preposterous,  would,  of  course,  never  have  been  used;  if 
the  proof  had  not  been  positive  that  a  mass  house  was 
prepared,  and  that  at  the  public  expense,  and  all  without 
authority,  in  the  alms  house.  But  supposing  the  argu- 
ment to  be  good— we  would  respectfully  remind  the  con- 
stituted authorities  of  the  city,  that  the  exact  state  of  the 
case  supposed,  exists  at  the  Baltimore  Infirmary;  and  we 
would  in  the  same  manner  remind  the  constituted  author- 
ities of  the  state,  that  this  identical  state  of  fact  exists  in 
the  Maryland  Hospital.  In  both  these  establishments, 
we  are  informed  on  authority,  which  we  presume  is  not 
to  be  questioned,  that  mass  houses  are  prepared,  and  that 
no  preparation  of  any  sort  is  made  for  any  form  of  Pro- 


AGAINST  ROBERT  J.    BRECKENIUDGE.  339 

testant  worship;  and  that  in  point  of  fact,  mass  is  said  in 
both  of  them — and  no  other  public  worship  is  held  in 
either.  And  to  put  the  whole  subject  to  rest,  "Most 
Reverend  Samuel  Eeeleston,  J).  D.,  archbishop  of  Bulli- 
more" — lias  put  down  both  these  establishments  as  being 
"Charitable  Institutions"  of  the  archdiocess  of  Baltimore, 
ranked  along-side  of  St.  Mary's,  St.  John's,  and  St.  Vin- 
cent's Asylums,  and  other  equally  exclusive  and  absolute 
papal  charities. — (See  Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac, 
for  1S40,  pp.  72  and  73.) 

Now  are  our  people  prepared  for  such  outrages  as 
these,  upon — we  will  not  say  the  religion  only,  nor  the 
rights  only  of  the  whole  community — but  upon  the  self- 
respect  and  personal  dignity  of  every  citizen?  The  pub- 
lic pride  is  wantonly  wounded; — and  we  have  all  justly 
deserved  the  gross  insults  heaped  upon  us.  We  cannot 
send  our  sick  to  be  cared  for  in  these  public  institutions 
without  danger  of  their  faith  being  subverted — and  their 
hours  of  sickness  made  miserable  by  attempts  at  proselyt- 
ing. We  are  taxed  to  support  the  papal  religion,  at  least 
indirectly,  by  law.  And  now,  the  very  institutions  of  the 
city  and  state,  are  publicly  set  down,  by  authority,  as  be- 
longing to  the  papal  church.* 

As  it  regards  the  alms  house,  until  Mr.  Maguire  came 
there,  things  were  managed  from  the  beginning  on  a  prin- 

*It  gives  us  unfeigned  pleasure  to  record  the  fact,  that  the  latter  of  these 
two  public  charities  has  been  evacuated*  by  the  nuns  and  priests  in  a  body, 
and  has  passed  back  from  being  a  charity  of  Mr.  Eccleston  to  be  again  a 
charity  of  the  state  of  Maryland.  The  foregoing  article  was  first  pub- 
lished in  April,  1840;  within  a  few  months  afterwards  the  difficulties  in 
the  Maryland  Hospital  began;  and  before  the  end  of  that  year  its  pur- 
gation was  complete.  We  personally  worshipped  the  Lord  most  high, 
one  sweet  Sabbath  afternoon,  during  the  autumn  of  1840 — in  company 
with  the  poor  inmates  of  this  Hospital;  in  the  ver\  room  where  priest 
Gildea  had  sung  mass,  at  the  expense  of  the  state  of  Maryland — for  long 
years.  The  reader  will  find  an  account  of  this  most  benign  revolution  in 
the  Bait.  Lit.  and  Rel.  Mag.,  for  Jan'y,  1S41. — Such  things  should  at 
once  greatly  humble  and  mightily  strengthen  the  hands  of  God's  people. 
A  few  lines  put  a  stop  to  a  mass  house  in  the  alms  house :  and  a  few 
sentences  are  followed  by  the  purgation  of  the  Maryland  hospital. 
While  we  cannot  value  our  own  efforts  too  low;  we  cannot  value  God's 
might  too  high.  No  lesson  has  been  so  often  and  so  fully  made  clear 
before  our  hearts  in  this  whole  controversy,  as  that  written  in  Psl.  lx, 
12. 


340 


THE  STATE  OF  MARYLAND 


oiple  of  perfect  religious  equality;  and  all  the  inmates, 
and  all  denominations  out  of  the  house,  had  equal  right 
to  use  a  common  place  prepared  for  all — and  to  be  used 
by  each  in  proper  time  and  order,  to  worship  God  as  all 
thought  proper.  But  now,  a  common  church  wont  do; 
and  another  and  separate  place,  for  an  idolatrous  wor- 
ship, must  be  set  up,  at  the  public  expense,  without  any 
authority,  for  papal  priests  to  sacrifice  our  Saviour  in, 
afresh.  We  say  boldly  the  community  ought  not  to  tol- 
erate— nor  do  we  believe  they  will  tolerate,  these  gross 
and  incessant  incroachments  upon  the  religious  principles 
and  rights  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people. 

V.  But  there  are  other  than  religious  difficulties. — 
This  alms  house  is  crowded  from  year's  end  to  year's  end 
with  hundreds  of  miserable  and  unfriended  creatures, 
whose  only  hope  is  in  the  public  benevolence.  From  the 
nature  of  the  case,  an  immense  discretion  must  reside  in 
the  trustees,  and  in  the  officers  in  the  house;  and  there- 
fore, men  of  the  very  highest  character  for  benevolence, 
experience,  and  trustworthiness,  should  alone  be  selected 
for  such  situations.  Instead  of  that,  the  offices  are  made 
the  rewTard  of  political  partizanship;  and  the  public  senti- 
ment has  tolerated  that  boon  companions  of  successful  as- 
pirants, should  be  invested  in  the  way  of  reward  for  ser- 
vices at  ward  meetings  and  poll  houses,  with  almost  ir- 
responsible power  over  the  sick  poor,  the  lunatic  poor, 
the  condemned  poor,  and  the  unfortunate  poor! — Yea,  so 
invested  with  such  authority,  that  a  paragraph  of 
twelve  lines,  in  a  monthly  religious  journal,  venturing  to 
repeat  a  credible  rumour,  and  to  suggest  further  enquiry 
is  scouted  as  an  intolerable  outrage — and  a  grand  jury 
threatened  by  the  overseer  for  hesitating  to  find  a  bill  for 
libel! 

Look  at  a  few  facts,  at  the  knowledge  of  which  we 
have  arrived  in  the  course  of  our  prosecution.  The  over- 
seer swore  that  nine  out  of  ten  persons  wTere  received  by 
the  man  in  the  office — and  that  in  the  overseer's  absence, 
this  man  was  left  in  charge  of  the  house.  But  this  man 
is  himself  a  pauper,  unknown  to  the  law,  and  holds  his 
power  and  station  at  the  mere  caprice  of  the  overseer; 
and  yet  by  express  law,  the  matron  should  be  in  charge 


AGAINST  ROBERT  J.  BRECKINRIDGE.  341 

of  the   whole   establishment  id   the  keeper's  absence! — 
Again,  here  is  an  establishment  where  the  most  exact  laws 

and  rules  prescribe  how,  and  on  what  conditions  persons 
shall  be  admitted  and   discharged;  and  the  veiv  defence 
set  up  for  taking  in  and  sending  away  a  man   illegally — 
is,  that  it  is  a  common  thing  thus   to  violate  the  law! — 
Again,  here  is  a  house  filled  with  poor,  from  infancy  to 
old  age,  and  here  are  two  visiting  physicians  appointed 
and  paid  by  the  public,  and  six  resident  students  of  me- 
dicine besides;  and  yet,  it  seems  proved  that  no   rigid 
method  is   established,    and  no  certain  rule   exists,   by 
which  any  thing  but  good  luck,  would  keep  a  man  com- 
ing in  with  any  sort  of  contagious  disorder,  from  giving 
it  to  the  whole  establishment;  unless  the  inmate,  Hooper, 
in  the  office,   who  receives  nine  persons  in  ten,  should 
judge  that  the  case  required  medical  aid;  and  even  then 
having  as  much  authority,  for  aught  that  appears,  to  pre- 
scribe in  itch  as  in  madness,  as  much  skill  in  measles  as 
in  insanity,  he  might,  if  he  so  pleased,  take  every  case  in 
hand  as  lawfully  as  he  did  Staser's. — Again,  as  far  as 
appears,  these  cells  are  the  common  receptacles  of  va- 
grants committed  for  crimes,  of  paupers  confined  in  the 
way  of  discipline,  and  of  mad-men  locked  up  for  security; 
confounding  discipline,  crime,  and  misery,  and  allowing^ 
(as  Hooper  admits  nine  cases  in  ten,)  the  judgment  of  a 
pauper  to  decide,  wThat  fellowship  the  three  classes  of  ca- 
ses may  have  together. — Again,  there  is  an  express  or- 
der of  the  trustees  that  the  overseer  shall  keep  a  book, 
and  therein  record  every  punishment  inflicted  by  him;  an 
order,  which  every  one  must  say,  is  wise  and  humane,  as 
well  as  most  just.     Will  the  present  board  tell  the  pub- 
lic how  many  times  they  have  inspected  this  book?     The 
by-law   says,   it   shall  be   submitted  to  them   monthly; 
but  perhaps  they  have  not  had  time  to  examine  it  quite 
so  often?     Perhaps   quarterly?     Perhaps    half-yearly? — 
Will  we  be  credited,  when  we  say  no  such  book  is  known 
to  be  in  existence?      Complaints  were  made  to  us,   by 
persons  who  said  they  had  suffered  punishment  which 
we  could  not  believe;  and  these   statements  became  so 
multiplied,  that  we  at  length  went  to  the   office  of  the 
agent  and   secretary  of  the  board  of  trustees,  in  north 
29* 


342  THE   STATE  OF  MARYLAND 

Frederick  street;  pointed  to  the  by-law,  and  asked  how 
we  could  get  a  sight  of  the  book.  He  assured  us  he  had 
never  seen  such  a  book;  and  was  convinced  none  such 
was  ever  laid  before  the  board  since  he  had  been  its  se- 
cretary!— Now,  if  this  be  so — what  can  the  trustees  know 
of  the  detail  of  the  discipline  of  the  house?  Or  what 
check  is  there  on  the  passions  of  the  overseer?  Or  what 
protection  is  afforded  to  the  inmates  of  the  house? 

These  matters  are  not  stated  with  any  view  to  discuss 
the  particular  merits  of  the  present  officers;  but  as  sub- 
jects of  public  and  permanent  interest  to  every  good 
citizen  and  every  humane  man.  Mr.  Maguire's  appoint- 
ment was  entirely  political — and  being  no  party  politi- 
cian ourself  we  have  nothing  to  say  to  that  matter;  ex- 
cept that  a  very  much  more  respectable  man  and  meri- 
torious officer,  was  dismissed  to  make  way  for  him.  But 
it  does  seem  to  us,  that  enough  has  come  to  light  about 
the  alms  house,  to  create  great  anxiety  in  the  public  mind; 
and  to  admonish  those  who  have  authority  over  the  sub- 
ject, that  prosecutions  for  libel  and  suits  for  slander,  are- 
not  exactly  the  thing  to  satisfy  the  community  that  mat- 
ters are  in  the  best  possible  state. 

VI.  We  were  never  prosecuted  before  for  any  thing; 
and  hope  never  to  be  again.  But  if  we  ever  should  be, 
we  trust  it  may  be  for  a  matter,  in  regard  to  which  our 
conscience  will  be  as  much  at  ease,  as  in  the  present 
case.  And  if  such  an  event  should  befall  us,  we  hope 
we  may  be  fortunate  enough  to  be  defended  by  men  equal 
in  character,  honour,  ability,  learning,  eloquence,  and 
every  noble  and  gentleman-like  quality — to  those  whose 
services  we  have  enjoyed  in  the  present  case.  We  could 
ask  no  more.  And  we  rejoice  in  the  conviction  that  the 
race  of  true  lawyers,  full  of  the  spirit  of  their  great 
and  noble  profession,  is  not  yet,  nor  like  to  be,  extinct 
amongst  us. 

There  is  one  aspect,  in  which  this  persecution  of  the 
Papists  has  been  singularly  important  to  us;  and  in  which, 
the  hand  of  Providence,  manifest  in  every  part  of  it,  has 
been  remarkably  apparent.  It  has  been  our  happy  lot, 
since  God  has  called  us  into  the  ministry  of  his  wTord,  to 
have  our  way  of  duty  set  before  us   with  perfect  plain- 


AGAINST  ROBERT    J.   BRECKINRIDGE.  343 

But  about  the  end  of  the  last  summer  and  the  be- 
ginning of  autumn  (1839,)  so  urgent,  so  repeated  and 
so  important  calls  were  made  on  us,  and  such  wide  fields 
of  usefulness  opened  to  us,  elsewhere,  and  under  such 
imposing  appearances  of  duty;  that  our  way  became  un- 
certain before  us,  and  our  mind  for  the  first  time,  deeply 
and  painfully  perplexed  as  to  what  God  would  have  us  do. 
That  matter  is  all  resolved.  We  are  given  to  see,  that 
our  work  here  is  not  yet  done;  and  now,  with  the  light 
of  heaven  upon  our  way,  and  with  a  heart  fully  set  upon 
our  Master's  work, — we  put  our  hands  with  renewed 
vigour  to  the  plough.  Our  only  business  on  earth  is  to 
do  and  suffer  the  whole  will  of  God;  and  for  that,  our 
all-sufficient  and  ever-present  support,  is  his  own  rich  and 
unmerited  grace  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Divine  Redeemer,  to 
whom  be  glory  forever. 


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